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BV  2060  .M6  1922 

Moore,  John  Monroe,  1867- 

1948. 
Making  the  world  Christian 


THE  FONDREN  LECTURES  FOR  1921 

Delivered  Before  the  SCHOOL  OF  THEOLOGY 
of  SOUTHERN  METHODIST  UNIVERSITY 


MAKING  THE  WORLD 
CHRISTIAN: 

THE    ESSENTIAL  OBJECTIVES 
IN      MISSIONARY     ENDEAVOR 


BY 

JOHN  MONROE  MOORE, 

D.D.,  Ph.D.  (Yale) 


The  Fondren  Lectures 

Mr.  and  Mrs,  W,  W,  Fondren,  members  of  St. 
Paul's  Methodist  Episcopal  Churchy  South,  Hous- 
ton, Texas,  gave  to  Southern  Methodist  University 
on  May  10,  1919,  the  sum  of  $10,000,  the  proceeds 
from  which  were  to  he  used  in  the  establishment  of 
the  Fondren  Lectures  on  Christian  Missions.  The 
following  paragraphs  from  the  conditions  of  the 
original  gift  will  set  forth  the  spirit  and  purpose 
of  the  Foundation. 

^'The  interest  on  the  investment  shall  be  used 
annually  in  procuring  some  competent  person  to  de- 
liver lectures  on  Christian  Missions  under  the  aus- 
pices of  Southern  Methodist  University,  some  phase 
of  this  great  cause  being  always  the  central  theme 
of  such  lectures.  .  .  .  This  fund  is  dedicated  to  the 
foundation  of  a  lectureship  on  Christian  Missions  in 
consideration  of  other  donations  made  for  the  up- 
building of  Southern  Methodist  University,  and 
especially  the  School  of  Theology  thereof  and  in 
the  hope  that  something  of  good  may  come  directly 
therefrom  and  that  others  more  able  to  give  largely 
may  be  inspired  to  devote  some  portion  of  the  means 
which  they  hold  in  trust  as  stewards  of  the  Lord 
to  the  increase  of  said  fund  or  to  some  other  laud- 
able enterprise  of  our  church," 


MAKING   THE   WORLD 
CHRISTIAN: 

THE  ESSENTIAL  OBJECTIVES 
IN  MISSIONARY  ENDEAVOR 

BY  vf^l" 

JOHN  MONROE  MOORE, 

D.D.,  Ph.D.,  (Yale)  '^^  1 


NEW  xlMy  YORK 
GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY 


Copyright,  1922, 
By  George  II.  Doran  Company 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


PREFACE 

A  tour  of  the  world  in  1908  as  an  Editor, 
to  study  and  report  through  the  columns  of 
the  paper  what  he  saw  of  missions,  eight 
years'  experience  as  a  secretary  of  home 
missions,  and  four  years'  service  as  the  gen- 
eral superintendent  of  the  missionary  opera- 
tions in  Brazil  of  one  of  the  leading  denomi- 
nations, may  be  said  to  have  furnished  the 
background  of  the  lectures  herein  presented 
to  the  public.  At  this  time  when  the  mission- 
ary activities  of  the  evangelical  churches  of 
the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  are  so 
aggressive  and  so  comprehensive  it  seems  well 
that  the  essential  objectives  in  missionary 
endeavor  be  clearly  defined  and  duly  empha- 
sized to  the  end  that  the  strategy  of  missions 
be  most  intelligently  formulated  and  effectu- 
ally applied.  Missionaries  on  the  field  and 
administrators  at  and  from  the  home  base  con- 
tinually need  and  require  fresh  interpretations 
of  the  missionary  task  that  they  may  the  more 
adequately  set  into  action  the  forces  and  in- 


vi  PREFACE 

fluences  that  will  eventuate  in  making  the 
world  Christian.  The  purpose  of  these  lec- 
tures is  to  draw  attention  anew  to  this  need  and 
outline  some  outstanding  elements  of  this  pre- 
eminent task  of  the  Christian  Church. 

The  lectures  were  prepared  in  the  midst 
of  the  most  exacting  episcopal  duties,  with 
time  severely  limited.  Lecture  V  was  not 
dehvered  as  the  time  was  not  sufficient  to  allow 
its  preparation  before  the  date  set  for  the 
dehvery  of  the  series.  The  other  five  were 
delivered  in  April,  1921,  before  Dean  Paul  B. 
Kern  and  the  Faculty  and  students  of  the 
School  of  Theology  of  Southern  Methodist 
University,  Dallas,  Texas,  Rev.  H.  A.  Boaz, 
D.D.,  the  president  of  the  University,  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  W.  W.  Fondren,  the  founders  of 
the  Lectureship,  and  Rev.  and  Mrs.  J.  Walter 
Mills,  the  friends  of  the  founders  who  had 
much  to  do  in  inspiring  the  foundation  gift. 
They  go  forth  to  the  public  with  the  hope  and 
prayer  that  they  will  make  some  contribution, 
however  small,  to  making  the  world  Christian. 

John  M.  Moore. 
Nashville,  Tennessee, 


CONTENTS 


LECTURE  I: 

INTERPRETING  RELIGIOUS  BELIEFS 

LECTURE  II: 

RECONSTRUCTING  MAN'S  THINKING 

LECTURE  III: 

CREATING  HUMAN-MINDEDNESS       . 

LECTURE  IV: 

ELEVATING  SOCIAL  VALUES        .       . 

LECTURE  V: 

VITALIZING  ETHICAL  IDEALS      .       . 

LECTURE  VI: 

CONSTRUCTING  AN  ADEQUATE  FAITH 


PAQB 
11 


.       62 


.     122 


.     174 


224 


265 


MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 


LECTURE    I:    INTERPRETING   RE- 
LIGIOUS BELIEFS 


Religion  is  the  fundamental  thing  in  hu- 
man life.  It  is  distinctive  of  man.  The  great 
French  philosopher  and  theologian  Auguste 
Sabatier  writes:  "Why  am  I  religious?  Be- 
cause I  cannot  help  it.  It  is  a  moral  necessity 
of  my  being."  He  regards  humanity  as  in- 
curably religious.  However  low  in  mental  de- 
velopment, however  crude  in  manner  of  life, 
man  worships.  He  recognizes  a  being  upon 
whom  he  is  dependent  and  to  whom  he  is  in 
some  measure  accountable,  if  not  responsible. 
Pascal  once  exclaimed:  "The  eternal  silence 
of  the  infinite  spaces  terrifies  me."  The  primi- 
tive peoples  no  less  have  felt  the  burden  of 
this  mysterious  silence,  and  have  sought  pro- 
tection in  the  objects  of  their  worship. 

Men  have  at  times  arisen  and  endeavored  to 
throw  off  this  conscious  necessity  of  religion, 
this  summons  by  the  voices  of  life  to  worship, 
but  they  have  ultimately  arrived  at  the  place 
where  they  must  begin  a  new  search  for  an 

11 


12     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

adequate  religious  faith.  Comte,  the  great 
French  positivist,  predicted  the  extinction  in 
the  human  soul  of  all  disposition  to  religion, 
but  before  he  had  concluded  his  work  he  had 
attempted  to  found  a  new  religion,  clumsily 
copied  from  what  he  had  hitherto  known.  He 
came  to  realize  the  force  of  the  devotional  in- 
stincts and  religious  feelings  in  the  life  of  peo- 
ples, and  to  believe  that  only  by  religion  could 
the  edifice  of  future  society  be  cemented. 
Herbert  Spencer  began  with  an  "Unknow- 
able" as  an  undetermined  and  unconscious 
force,  but  eventually  he,  too,  came  to  pro- 
nounce religion  eternal. 

By  religion  humanity  takes  its  rise,  and 
by  religion  it  is  established  and  completed. 
People  are  just  what  their  religions  have  in- 
spired and  led  them  to  be.  In  the  Orient  the 
civilization  is  exactly  what  might  be  expected 
from  the  religious  beliefs  that  have  been  domi- 
nant. Religion  has  not  grown  so  much  out  of 
the  life  of  the  people  as  the  life  of  the  people 
has  been  fashioned  and  accommodated  to  their 
rehgious  conceptions.  Mohammedanism  has 
made  its  own  world  and  holds  it  fast  by  the 
most  irrevocable  decrees.  India  can  never  rise 
to  a  new  estate  until  it  is  awakened  from  the 
sleep  of  death  and  extinction  which  Hinduism 


INTERPRETING  RELIGIOUS  BELIEFS      13 

induces.  China  will  be  chained  to  a  dead  past 
so  long  as  the  ancestral  tablets  are  the  prime 
objects  or  means  of  worship.  Japan  grows 
great  as  it  outgrows  its  primitive  faiths.  A 
people's  advancement  cannot  outrun  its  religi- 
ous enlightenment.  The  old  stock  cannot  be 
grafted  upon  with  any  hope  of  a  new  and  vig- 
orous growth.  The  change  needed  must  be  at 
the  roots.  All  human  development  springs 
from  religion  and  ends  in  it.  Humanity  can 
come  to  thorough  establishment  and  comple- 
tion only  through  a  religion  which  breathes  re- 
demption and  inspires  to  fullness  of  life  and 
destiny. 

**Religious  beliefs  do  not  die;  they  are  sim- 
ply transformed,"  says  Sabatier.  There  is 
comfort  in  the  view  that  religion  is  immortal, 
but  there  is  the  other  fact  that  outward  ex- 
pressions of  religious  behefs  are  subject  to 
change  through  the  forces  that  may  be  brought 
to  bear  upon  them,  and  that  religion  may  be 
made  richer,  more  abundant,  and  more  satis- 
fying with  reflection  and  the  experiences  of 
life.  This  lays  an  inevitable  obligation  upon 
those  who  are  responsible  for  the  establishment 
of  the  highest  form  of  religious  thought,  life 
and  service.  The  ancient  thinkers,  whether 
priests  or  philosophers,  maintained  an  attitude 


U     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

of  pure  indifference  toward  religions  other 
than  the  one  of  their  environment.  Professor 
Morris  Jastrow  in  his  "Study  of  Rehgion" 
says:  "If  the  question  were  put  to  a  Greek, 
or  an  Egyptian,  or  a  Babylonian,  as  to  the 
reason  for  the  existence  of  various  religions 
in  the  world,  he  would  have  failed  to  under- 
stand what  the  question  meant.  It  was  per- 
fectly natural  to  a  Greek  that  the  religion  in 
Egypt  should  be  different  from  the  one  pre- 
vailing in  Hellas.  How  could  it  be  otherwise? 
The  countries  were  different  and  therefore  the 
gods  were  different.  A  difference  in  religion 
was  accordingly  accepted  with  the  same  com- 
placency as  was  a  difference  in  dress  or  in 
language."  Hebrew  prophets  brushed  aside 
the  gods  of  other  nations  and  exalted  their  own 
Jehovah  with  little  sense  of  responsibility  for 
the  religious  life  of  their  neighbors.  Whether 
Greek  philosopher  or  Hebrew  prophet,  the  in- 
difference to  the  manifold  manifestations  of 
religion  was  the  same.  To  this  day  indiffer- 
ence to  other  faiths  characterizes  practically  all 
rehgious  teachers  except  those  of  Mohammed- 
anism and  Christianity.  Both  these  are  dili- 
gent and  vigorous  in  their  endeavors  to  win 
the  world  to  their  beliefs. 

Christianity  in  the  beginning  assumed  very 


INTERPRETING  RELIGIOUS  BELIEFS      15 

much  the  same  attitude  as  that  of  its  great 
progenitor,  Judaism.  It  looked  with  more  or 
less  contempt  on  all  other  faiths.  Since  God 
had  revealed  Himself  to  only  one  people,  there 
could  be  only  one  form  of  religious  truth — 
all  others  were  due  either  to  ignorance  or  dom- 
inant evil  forces.  By  the  preaching  of  the  true 
religion  the  others  were  to  be  overcome.  Such 
was  its  early  reasoning.  Later  more  severe 
means  were  employed  to  induce  the  "heathen" 
to  take  a  more  sympathetic  and  safe  relation 
to  this  one  true  faith.  Christianity  suffered 
greatly  while  the  old  Roman  imperialism  was 
in  strength,  but  with  its  wane  there  came  a 
new  assertion  of  this  all-conquering  faith,  and 
the  attempts  to  stamp  out  heathenism  and  to 
crush  Judaism  make  dark  pages  in  the  history 
of  the  Christian  Church.  The  Jews  for  cen- 
turies were  treated  as  a  hardened  people  to 
whom  there  seemed  to  be  no  approach  for 
the  Christ  gospel.  The  conflict  with  Moham- 
medanism was  void  of  human  feelings.  All 
ideals  of  peace  and  good  will  were  laid  aside 
in  the  bitter  warfare  with  the  "infidel"  foes. 
Mohammedanism  was  looked  upon  as  the  in- 
carnation of  the  Devil.  Christianity  and  the 
Church  had  taken  its  attitude  and  its  course 
of  action  from  Rome  and  maintained  a  spirit 


16     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

of  pride  and  intolerance  which  continued 
through  fifteen  centuries  and  which  was 
changed  only  by  degrees  through  the  next 
three  centuries.  The  change  came  into  full 
effect  only  with  the  vigor  of  the  modern  mis- 
sionary movement  of  evangelical  Christianity 
in  its  program  of  enlightenment  and  regenera- 
tion. 

The  conquests  of  Christianity  were  the  pride 
and  boast  of  the  Church  during  the  first  dozen 
centuries.  The  sword  and  crucifix  were  com- 
panion instruments  in  establishing  its  domains. 
The  Christians  acquired  a  military  vocabulary 
in  these  ages  of  conflict,  and  unfortunately, 
military  terms  still  remain  in  the  speech  of 
the  Church  for  the  characterization  of  its  move- 
ments. Triumph,  victory,  advance,  cam- 
paigns, conquest,  are  words  used  to  express 
the  manner  of  its  enlargement.  Christianity 
should  now  assume  such  an  attitude  toward 
the  world  and  its  own  task  as  to  render  this 
very  terminology^  obsolete.  The  vocabulary 
to-day  should  be  marked  by  the  words:  seeds, 
cultivation,  growth,  increase,  harvest,  life. 
Religion  cannot  be  properly  interpreted  to  the 
non-Christian  world  through  the  terminology 
of  the  battlefield.  The  most  severe  criticism 
which  the  Orient  has  passed  upon  Christianity 


INTERPRETING  RELIGIOUS  BELIEFS      17 

is  that  it  represents  itself  as  a  religion  of  force, 
authority  and  domination,  creating  nations  of 
like  attitudes.  While  it  is  possessed  of  these 
qualities,  its  means  of  expansion  rest  not  with 
the  weapons  of  war,  but  with  the  utensils  of 
husbandry  and  the  agencies  common  to  life 
processes.  Christianity  goes  to  the  non-Chris- 
tian world  upon  no  campaign  of  conquest,  but 
upon  a  mission  of  love,  light  and  life.  Its  atti- 
tude will  in  no  small  way  be  determinative  in 
its  success.  Its  teachers  and  promulgators 
must  be  able  to  declare  in  the  most  convincing 
terms  what  Christianity  has  to  contribute  to 
the  illumination  and  interpretation  of  the  most 
fundamental,  essential  and  precious  of  all  hu- 
man beliefs. 

The  Christian  Church  has  come  to  reahze 
that  the  power  of  Christianity  is  due  to  its 
transforming  influence  through  its  creative  en- 
ergy. It  supplies  a  new  wine,  sparkling  and 
strong,  and  it  rends  the  wineskins  of  old  con- 
ceptions into  which  it  may  be  poured.  It  scat- 
ters marvelous  seeds  of  wondrous  possibilities 
in  the  soils  of  all  civilizations.  It  transmits  a 
light  with  the  softness  of  the  morning  and  the 
strength  of  the  noonday.  It  kindles  fires  as 
genial  as  springtime  for  the  souls  of  men  but 
as  a  burning  furnace  for  the  wickedness  of  the 


18     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

world.  Its  supreme  strength  is  not  in  its  abil- 
ity to  destroy  but  in  its  capacity  to  fill  out  and 
complete  the  measure  of  human  possibilities. 
It  carries  the  creative  energy  that  brought  the 
universe  into  existence  and  that  has  maintained 
the  onward  course  of  God's  government  in  His 
world.  It  produces  and  reproduces  the  ele- 
ments of  redemption  and  regeneration  by 
which  man  comes  into  a  new  estate,  views  life 
with  a  new  vision,  and  is  quickened  to  heroic 
endeavor  for  a  great  destiny.  It  makes  lumi- 
nous the  past  and  lights  up  the  way  of  the 
future.  It  is  a  generator  of  light  for  the  mind 
and  spirit  of  man.  It  is  life,  the  life  of  God 
in  man.  Creation  is  the  life  of  God  in  action. 
Christianity  can  never  be  less  than  productive 
of  all  that  God  would  express  in  the  human 
being  and  the  human  race. 

Christianity  interprets  religion  as  creative 
energy  acting  in  and  upon  the  human  life  to 
the  accomplishment  of  the  eternal  unchanging 
purpose  of  God.  The  religion  of  Christ  gets 
not  only  to  the  God  of  resources,  but  also  to 
the  God  of  sources.  Man  aspires  to  reach  the 
sources.  When  he  finds  himself  he  rebels  at 
being  a  pensioner,  a  dependent.  He  wants  to 
get  at  the  stored  energies  for  use  in  the  dis- 


INTERPRETING  RELIGIOUS  BELIEFS      19 

covered  processes  of  development  and  achieve- 
ment. The  religion  that  reveals  the  eternal 
purpose  of  God  develops  this  same  purpose  in 
the  lives  and  institutions  of  men  and  opens  the 
way  for  sublime  effort  and  gives  assurance  of 
a  blessed  destiny.  If  that  which  exists  in  God 
can  be  and  will  be  transmitted  to  man  a  new 
creation  is  assured.  Paul  says,  "There  is  a 
new  creation  whenever  a  man  comes  to  be  in 
Christ,  what  is  old  is  gone,  the  new  has  come." 
Man  is  made  master  of  the  major  forces  op- 
erating in  the  real  world  through  his  relation 
to  the  divine  source  of  all  power.  He  springs 
to  the  life  processes  that  bear  on  to  the  ful- 
fillment of  personality.  He  is  a  new  creation 
and  is  impelled  to  the  production  of  a  new 
world  life.  Religion  as  interpreted  by  Chris- 
tianity is  a  matter  of  life,  force,  progress, 
achievement.  It  makes  real  and  vivid  the  pur- 
poses of  God  and  commits  men  to  them.  It 
builds  up  a  Kingdom  of  God.  It  overturns 
and  assimilates  the  kingdom  of  evil.  It  gives 
man  dominion  over  the  works  of  the  great 
Creator,  and  drives  him  to  realize  that  God 
has  crowned  him  with  glory  and  honor.  What 
other  religion  than  Christianity  gives  such 
worth  to  man  and  such  character  to  God? 


20     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

n 

Christianity  has  come  to  its  time  of  supreme 
testing  as  it  has  reached  its  day  of  largest  op- 
portunity. Its  intelligence,  its  will,  its  power, 
are  being  tried  by  the  most  multifarious  and 
exacting  demands.  These  very  demands  are 
indisputable  evidence  of  the  world's  belief  in 
the  immeasurable  possibilities  of  the  Christian 
religion  and  the  limitless  capabilities  of  the 
Christian  Church.  No  such  demands  are  be- 
ing made  upon  any  other  religious  faith  or 
organism.  Of  Buddhism,  Confucianism,  Mo- 
hammedanism, or  even  Judaism,  nothing  is  ex- 
pected comparable  to  what  is  asked  of  Chris- 
tianity. It  is  universally  recognized  that  the 
forces  that  give  validity,  scope  and  course  to 
modern  civilization  have  had  their  origin  in 
Christian  sources  and  have  come  to  their  pres- 
ent effectiveness  in  the  atmosphere  of  Christian 
teachings.  Not  half  the  world's  population 
know  anything  of  the  teaching  of  Christianity, 
nor  of  the  Christ  from  which  they  sprang. 
The  non-Christian  peoples  have  had  the  ad- 
vantage of  priority  of  civilization  and  they  can 
boast  of  a  nobility  of  ancestry  and  a  superiority 
of  achievement  in  the  centuries  when  the  pro- 
genitors of  the  present  mighty  nations  were 


INTERPRETING  RELIGIOUS  BELIEFS     21 

but  rude  tribes  dressed  in  skins  and  dwelling 
in  tents.  Yet  force  has  been  lodged  with  these 
peoples  who  took  over  and  took  in  the  beliefs 
which  Christianity  has  delivered. 

The  question  to-day  is  not  whether  the  world 
will  have  Christianity  or  Buddhism,  or  Mo- 
hammedanism, or  Judaism.  The  question  is, 
will  the  world  have  Christianity?  If  Chris- 
tianity cannot  meet  the  demands  which  the 
world  now  makes  upon  it  there  is  no  thought 
that  one  or  the  other  of  the  existing  religions 
will  be  tried.  In  recent  years  very  much  sym- 
pathetic study  has  been  given  to  a  comparison 
of  religions.  The  Philosophy  of  Religion  has 
occupied  the  best  philosophical  thinkers.  The 
holdings  of  all  faiths  have  been  laid  upon  the 
table  and  their  most  faithful  and  capable  de- 
fenders have  been  called  upon  to  interpret 
them.  In  the  light  of  full  knowledge  and  by 
the  aid  of  the  best  intelligence  the  religions 
of  the  earth  have  been  estimated.  These 
studies  have  broadened  the  conceptions  of  the 
real  contents  of  all  religions,  but  they  have  not 
lessened  the  sense  of  the  extraordinary  value, 
superiority  and  inclusiveness  of  Christianity. 
There  is  not  much  expectation  that  some 
new  religion  will  appear.  The  testing  now 
for  a  religion  for  the  human  race   is  upon 


22     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

Christianity.  Beyond  that  there  is  only 
darkness. 

Christianity  has  come  to  this  place  of  testing, 
to  the  place  of  unparalleled  responsibility, 
largely  because  of  the  claims  of  its  adherents. 
They  have  never  proclaimed  it  except  as  the 
universal  religion,  the  only  hope  of  the  salva- 
tion of  the  human  race.  They  have  confidently 
and  rigorously  maintained  that  all  genuine  re- 
ligion, truth  and  power  are  embraced  in  Chris- 
tianity and  that  whatever  else  may  be  found 
in  any  other  religion  is  spurious  or  superfluous. 
These  claims  have  been  made  in  the  light  of 
the  highest  revelation  and  of  the  best  developed 
intelligence.  Neither  the  ancient  nor  modern 
world  has  held  a  religion  which  has  not  been 
thoroughly  scrutinized  and  estimated  by  the 
adherents  of  Christianity.  They  have  found 
no  cause  for  lowering  their  claims  of  the  super- 
lative value  of  Christianity,  the  inclusiveness 
of  its  truth,  and  the  transcendency  of  its  power 
for  the  redemption  and  edification  of  the 
world.  This  Christian  consciousness  of  the  ab- 
solute superiority  of  Christianity  has  been  rig- 
idly maintained  since  the  apostolic  era. 

The  fact  cannot  be  controverted  that  Chris- 
tianity has  set  going  great  currents  of  multi- 
plied energy  in  the  human  will.    It  has  turned 


INTERPRETING  RELIGIOUS  BELIEFS      23 

the  dream  of  the  half-awake  into  the  visions 
of  vast  possibihties  which  have  issued  in  sub- 
lime effort  and  masterly  movement.  Man, 
under  the  creative  power  of  this  marvelous 
faith,  has  passed  from  the  state  of  merely  a 
consumer  of  the  Creator's  beneficence  to  a  pro- 
ducer of  merit  in  his  own  name  and  by  his 
own  wisdom  and  capabilities.  The  very  atmos- 
phere of  human  life  becomes  charged  with  a 
creative  energy  where  Christianity  is  in  force 
and  control.  Man  not  only  has  lifted  before 
him  great  prizes  but  raised  up  in  him  great 
resources.  Under  the  inspiration  and  force  of 
this  Christ-energy  the  possibilities  of  humanity 
are  put  beyond  conceivable  limits. 

That  there  is  a  dynamic  in  the  Christian  re- 
ligion that  makes  for  human  assertion,  social 
enlargement  and  racial  development,  can 
scarcely  be  gainsaid.  Wherever  it  has  been 
introduced  humanity  has  come  to  a  higher 
level,  and  whenever  it  has  been  refused,  neg- 
lected or  withdrawn,  decline  and  deterioration 
have  followed.  It  energizes  capabilities,  focal- 
izes activities,  and  spiritualizes  motives  and  ob- 
jectives. The  human  race  has  wrought  well 
under  its  tutelage.  It  has  put  no  blight  upon 
any  land  where  its  essential  principles  and  fun- 
damental   teachings    have    been    emphasized. 


24*     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

Rude  tribes  have  grown  into  great  forces  for 
civilization,  righteousness  and  justice  under  the 
spirit  of  this  rehgious  faith.  Men  rise  up  and 
move  forward  under  the  influence  of  Christi- 
anity irrespective  of  their  race,  their  history, 
or  previous  or  existing  conditions  of  hfe  and 
thought.  It  is  not  boasting  but  only  stating  a 
well-recognized  fact  to  say  that  the  nations  of 
first  importance,  the  institutions  of  largest 
human  influence,  the  wealth  of  greatest  pro- 
portions, the  governments  of  widest  sweep,  are 
to  a  prevailing  degree  under  Christian  aus- 
pices. Are  these  accidents  in  human  move- 
ments or  the  normal  products  of  the  matchless 
force  which  Christianity  claims  has  issued 
from  the  Person  and  teachings  of  Jesus,  the 
Nazarene  ? 

No  one  would  claim  that  these  great  nations 
with  their  superior  institutions,  massive  wealth, 
and  mighty  governments  are  genuinely  Chris- 
tian. They  are  not.  The  Great  War  brought 
no  keener  shock  to  Christian  men  and  women 
than  the  fearful  realization  that  humanity  may 
enjoy  the  fruits  of  a  Christian  civilization  and 
claim  a  personal  assurance  for  another  world 
and  yet  be  wanting  in  the  Christian  attitudes, 
tempers  and  purposes  for  this  world.  The 
marvel  of  it  all  is  that  nations  and  peoples  so 


INTERPRETING  RELIGIOUS  BELIEFS      25 

meagerly  Christian  have  risen  to  such  pre- 
eminence in  power,  possessions  and  influence. 
The  question  arises  instinctively,  What  might 
they  not  do  were  they  completely  directed  by 
the  genius  of  Jesus  Christ  and  impelled  to 
fashion  their  forces  to  the  accomplishment  of 
that  to  which  His  sublime  principles  would 
lead?  The  entire  effort  of  the  Christian 
Church  is,  and  should  be,  to  get  Christianity 
fully  tried  out  in  the  earth. 

Christianity  is  now  facing  a  more  intelligent 
non-Christian  world  than  since  the  first  two 
centuries.  A  new  sense  of  power  has  been 
awakened  and  a  new  sense  of  racial  impor- 
tance has  been  developed  among  the  peoples 
that  have  been  the  objects  of  Christian  propa- 
ganda. The  adherents  and  exponents  of  other 
faiths  have  risen  to  the  defensive  and  are  he- 
roically endeavoring  to  meet  Christianity  upon 
the  thresholds  of  their  supposed  dominions. 
They  have  gone  so  far  as  to  employ  the  imple- 
ments and  agencies  common  to  the  Christian 
Church,  just  as  their  countries  have  imported 
the  implements  of  Christian  civilization  to  take 
the  place  of  what  their  own  manner  of  life, 
thought  and  worship  have  produced.  The 
question  must  be  answered  anew,  What  is  there 
in  Christianity,  and  what  has  it  done,  to  merit 


26     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

primacy  among  the  world's  faiths  ?  The  evan- 
gelical Christian  propaganda  has  beisn  in 
course  more  than  a  century  among  non-Chris- 
tian peoples.  What  has  been  wrought  in  this 
time  in  their  civilizations  and  in  their  processes 
of  life,  thought  and  action?  Some  new  power 
has  stirred  the  world  prodigiously  in  the  last 
ten  decades.  Has  Christianity  released  ener- 
gies that  might  be  expected  to  bring  forth  some 
such  results?  Has  Christianity  been  creative 
of  new  forces  and  vaster  areas  of  human  en- 
deavor? 

Christianity's  appeal  to  the  world  to-day 
must  be  made  upon  its  record  and  the  ration- 
ality and  compass  of  its  projected  plans.  It 
must  be  able  to  show  clearly  in  what  respect 
Christianity  has  contributed  to  the  religious 
endowments  and  acquirements  of  mankind; 
reconstructed  thought-life  in  keeping  with  its 
enlarged  view  of  the  world,  God  and  human- 
ity; elevated  moral  values;  and  given  to  the 
peoples  it  has  touched  a  religious  faith  equal 
to  the  demands  of  maturity  of  the  individual 
and  the  race.  Productive  beliefs  vitalize  the 
processes  of  human  development.  By  that 
standard  Christianity  and  all  other  religions 
must  be  measured.    Man's  development  finds 


INTERPRETING  RELIGIOUS  BELIEFS      27 

legitimate  measurement  in  the  sublimity  of  his 
religious  conceptions  and  worship,  the  com- 
prehensiveness and  force  of  his  system  of 
thought,  his  efficiency  in  handling  the  resources 
of  nature,  his  estimate  of  moral  values  and  in 
the  adequacy  of  his  beliefs  to  cover  and  con- 
trol the  highest  life  interests.  Christianity's 
aspiration,  if  not  obligation,  is  to  make  the 
world  Christian,  and  the  Christianization  of 
the  world  is  the  end  and  purpose  of  the  well- 
awakened,  modern  Church.  What  has  been 
done  in  consummation  of  this  end?  What  re- 
mains to  be  done  with  the  existing  religious 
conceptions  of  the  vast  majority  of  mankind, 
with  the  mental  life  of  the  people,  and  with 
their  sense  of  relation  to  God,  the  world  in 
which  they  live  and  the  group  life  of  the  race 
before  they  can  think  and  live  Christ,  and 
thereby  establish  forever  in  the  earth  the 
Kingdom  of  God?  What  is  it  that  must  be 
done  in  the  entire  body  of  humanity  and  in  the 
entirety  of  humanity  in  order  to  complete 
Christianization?  These  questions  are  not  only 
legitimate,  but  the  answers  to  them  are  neces- 
sary to  any  intelligent,  comprehensive  system 
of  missionary  propaganda  of  the  modern 
evangelical  Church. 


28     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

III 

Christianity  must  outline  anew  its  task. 
The  modern  missionary  movement  has  put  it 
face  to  face  with  the  faiths  of  mankind  and 
the  conditions  of  humanity  which  attend  those 
faiths.  There  are  backward  races  that  present 
a  pitiable  lack  of  any  genuine  comprehension 
of  religion  and  possess  little  other  than  bar- 
baric cults  of  animism.  Practically  half  the 
people  of  the  world  are  in  India,  China  and 
Japan,  where  ethnic  faiths  are  dominant  in 
the  life,  thought  and  purpose  of  the  people. 
The  Moslem  world  and  the  Jewish  race  re- 
main stolid  in  their  adherence  to  the  faiths  of 
their  fathers  notwithstanding  their  oppor- 
tunities for  correctly  knowing  the  gospel  of 
Christ.  More  than  half  of  mankind  have  prac- 
tically no  knowledge  of  Christianity,  and  even 
a  larger  percentage  have  no  concern  for  other 
than  a  racial  religion.  Of  the  so-called  Chris- 
tian world,  Romanism  with  its  political  ec- 
clesiasticism  and  its  glaringly  erroneous  inter- 
pretations bearing  the  marks  of  the  old  im- 
perial Roman  life  and  power,  holds  a  large 
portion  in  its  iron  grip,  while  the  darkened 
forms  of  Coptic,  Armenian  and  Greek  faiths 
hold  little  less.    That  is  the  world  that  evangel- 


INTERPRETING  RELIGIOUS  BELIEFS      29 

ical  Christianity  faces  to-day.  One  is  forced 
to  say  with  Lessing:  ''The  Christian  rehgion 
has  been  tried  for  eighteen  centuries;  but  the 
rehgion  of  Christ  remains  to  be  tried."  Will  it 
be  tried?  What  is  it  that  Christianity  must  do 
to  make  the  world  Christian?  Can  it  be  done? 
There  are  those  who  consider  themselves  Chris- 
tians, and  in  personal  character  and  hope  they 
are  such,  who  do  not  expect  the  world  to  be- 
come Christian.  They  consider  this  world  a 
place  to  get  Christians  out  of  and  not  into. 
But  the  spirit,  purpose  and  plan  of  modern 
missions  are  to  make  the  world  Christian  and 
all  that  is  therein  or  pertains  thereto.  Is  the 
plan  impracticable  and  the  task  impossible? 
Faith  makes  but  one  answer. 

"Rehgious  beliefs  do  not  die,"  says  Sabatier; 
"they  are  simply  transformed."  If  his  posi- 
tion is  correct  the  strategy  of  missions  will  be 
the  employment  of  the  means  and  agencies 
that  will  set  going  new  currents  of  religious 
thought,  new  batteries  of  religious  power,  new 
generators  of  religious  light  in  order  to  effect 
that  transformation.  That  which  the  mission- 
ary finds  of  real  religious  value  in  the  religion 
of  any  people  is  to  be  treasured.  It  forms 
the  "known"  in  his  effort  to  lead  to  that  which 
is  the  "unknown"  to  the  people.     The  first 


30     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

question  will  be,  How  can  it  be  determined 
that  any  religious  element  has  real  religious 
value?  Has  the  missionary  standards  for 
making  this  determination?  The  great 
ethnic  faiths  of  the  Orient  have  become  the 
foundations  of  vast  civilizations  of  extended 
history  and  immense  influence.  Out  of  these 
civilizations  have  arisen  great  minds  and 
great  souls  who  have  been  sustained  from 
mighty  mystic  sources.  China  was  a  great 
nation  when  Abraham  started  on  his  quest 
for  a  new  habitation.  India  was  the 
source  of  the  rich  Sanscrit  literature  before 
Europe  knew  the  meaning  of  culture.  These 
peoples  are  not  novices  in  the  world  of  action, 
thought  or  conduct.  They  are  not  without 
pride  in  their  past,  or  contentment  in  their 
present,  or  confidence  in  their  future.  Their 
religious  faiths  are  the  heritage  of  the  cen- 
turies. What  is  there  of  real  religious  value 
in  them?  This  question  would  seem  to  be 
primary  and  its  answer  would  determine  the 
course  of  any  process  that  may  be  entered 
upon  to  transform  and  reconstruct  them  so  as 
to  make  them  adequate  to  the  religious  needs 
of  the  people. 

There  are  those  who  flout  the  idea  of  trans- 
forming a  rehgious  faith.     They  hold  to  the 


INTERPRETING  RELIGIOUS  BELIEFS      31 

old  view  that  there  is  only  one  religion  and  the 
only  thing  to  do  is  to  destroy  the  other,  root 
and  branch.  That  smacks  of  bold  fanaticism 
and  is  a  hazardous  process,  for  as  Professor 
Jastrow  says:  "Skepticism  is  the  corollary  of 
fanaticism"  and  has  always  ensued.  The 
death  of  a  religious  belief  means  usually  the 
funeral  of  religion.  No  man  has  the  right  to 
destroy  another's  faith.  He  has  only  the  right 
to  supplant  it  with  a  better.  To-day  in  all  the 
world  where  the  old  faiths  have  been  ruth- 
lessly exposed  and  destroyed  and  the  recon- 
struction process  has  not  kept  pace,  agnos- 
ticism is  rampant.  When  man  finds  his  own 
faith  unfounded,  he  leaps,  almost  inevitably, 
to  the  conclusion  that  no  man's  faith  is  better 
founded.  The  missionary  to-day  faces  in 
China  and  Japan  greater  obstacles  in  the  new 
agnosticism  of  the  educated  and  the  forceful 
than  in  the  old  inadequate  and  often  spurious 
faiths  of  the  common  people.  Europe  in  its 
revolt  against  the  ecclesiasticism  of  Rome  and 
of  Greek  patriarchs  has  all  but  become  sub- 
merged in  the  dark  waters  of  agnosticism  and 
atheism.  Latin  America  has  an  intellectual 
and  political  leadership  that  no  longer  retains 
faith  in  the  Church  as  a  medium  of  religion. 
Faith  in  the  old  things  has  been  broken  down 


32     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

and  faith  in  the  better  has  not  been  created. 
That  is  the  peril  of  the  world  to-day.  Chris- 
tianity can  make  little  or  no  appeal  to  a  people 
wanting  in  any  religion. 

That  all  religions  have  value  must  be  recog- 
nized, and  also  that  religious  values  cannot  be 
graded  according  to  the  localities  and  people 
that  hold  them  any  more  than  can  the  dia- 
mond's brilliancy,  weight  and  worth.  The 
standards  of  truth  are  not  geographical,  nor 
even  ethnical.  They  are  psychical  and  prag- 
matic. Even  the  origin  of  truth  does  not  im- 
pair its  validity.  The  standards  of  value  for 
all  truth  may  be  determined  by  the  purposes 
to  be  met.  Barnard's  discovery  of  the  fifth 
satellite  of  Jupiter  was  of  no  value  to  chemis- 
try. The  Crookes  tubes  added  nothing  to  the 
art  of  healing,  but  they  made  possible  the 
X-ray,  whose  remedial  properties  can  scarcely 
be  overestimated.  The  discovery  of  America 
by  Columbus  added  not  only  to  man's  knowl- 
edge of  the  earth,  but  it  opened  a  new  world, 
cleared  the  way  for  a  new  civilization,  and 
made  possible  the  production  of  a  greater 
political  power  than  had  ever  been  known. 
The  discovery  of  ether  was  the  beginning  of 
modern  surgery,  the  marvel  of  the  age.  The 
vaccine  virus  has  become  the  forerunner  of 


INTERPRETING  RELIGIOUS  BELIEFS     33 

the  vast  company  of  serums  that  now  reduce 
the  mahgnancy  of  ravaging  diseases.  The 
purposes  to  which  any  truth  may  be  put  may 
become  cumulative  as  this  truth  leads  to  other 
truth.  Chemistry  has  attained  a  new  and 
greatly  enlarged  and  enlarging  sphere  as  it 
has  become  creative.  Creative  knowledge  is 
a  knowledge  with  power  and  multiplies  ener- 
gies as  it  expands  its  realm.  But  such  values 
are  neither  increased  nor  diminished  by  the 
nationalities  of  discoverers  or  producers.  They 
are  measured  by  the  high  standards  of  worth 
to  the  race  and  their  possibilities  for  the  pur- 
poses for  which  they  are  required. 

In  like  manner  the  purposes  of  religion,  the 
ends  to  be  met,  the  aim  to  be  achieved,  must 
determine  the  values  of  any  religious  concep- 
tion, belief,  or  act.  These  purposes,  ends  and 
aims  are  not  local,  national  nor  ethnic,  but  uni- 
versal. The  standards  of  value  which  they 
erect  and  require  cannot  be  set  aside,  ignored, 
or  even  disregarded.  It  is  sometimes  said 
"that  peoples'  religion  is  good  enough  for 
them.  Do  not  disturb  them  with  another." 
Religion  that  is  not  adequate  to  mankind  uni- 
versal is  not  competent  for  any  particular  part 
of  the  race.  It  is  the  element  in  man  that  is 
common  to  the  human  race  that  calls  for  re- 


34.     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

ligion.  Ethnic  faiths  came  to  their  form  and 
force  in  the  ages  when  the  commonality  of  man 
was  not  recognized,  and  they  decline  as  rapidly 
as  this  commonality  is  realized.  The  Jew  has 
maintained  his  ethnic  faith  amid  the  untoward 
influences  of  the  world  by  his  untiring  em- 
phasis on  racial  solidarity.  It  is  that  which 
has  kept  him  from  accepting  Christianity, 
which  he  well  knows  and  for  the  most  part 
highly  appreciates.  So  long  as  racial  demar- 
cations can  be  rigidly  maintained  and  the  ele- 
ment common  to  man  be  held  in  subordina- 
tion, so  long  can  the  ethnic  faiths  be  kept 
dominant.  This  is  true  with  the  Japanese,  the 
Chinese,  the  East  Indian.  The  Japanese  race 
instinct  will  demand  and  exalt  a  Japanese  re- 
ligion. But  Japanese  who  are  open  to  the 
world  tides  and  aspire  to  participate  in  world 
currents  and  world  movements  with  the  con- 
sciousness of  world  citizenship  and  the  sense  of 
world  responsibility  will  soon  discover  and  ad- 
mit the  inadequacy  of  a  Japanese  religion. 
The  same  is  true  of  China  and  India.  The 
values  of  a  religion  must  be  estimated  in  terms 
of  man  the  universal  as  well  as  man  the  par- 
ticular or  man  the  racial. 

Acquaintance    with    the    religions    of    the 
peoples  to  whom  they  are  sent  is  a  primary 


INTERPRETING  RELIGIOUS  BELIEFS      35 

requisite  of  the  Christian  propagandists.  Paul 
the  apostle,  the  great  defender,  interpreter  and 
promulgator  of  Christianity,  knew  Judaism  in 
its  last  detail  and  was  as  able  in  exposition  of 
it  as  its  strongest  ecclesiastical  teachers.  He 
could  not  only  point  out  the  real  principles 
and  practices  of  Judaism,  but  he  possessed  a 
power  of  interpretation  which  made  him  un- 
answerable. He  knew  thoroughly  the  religion 
of  the  Greeks  and  was  familiar  with  their 
philosophy.  There  was  a  mighty  reach  to  his 
words  because  of  his  mastery  of  current 
thought.  The  Christian  teacher  must  be  an 
interpreter  of  religion  and  entirely  capable  of 
analyzing  and  estimating  every  expression  and 
form  of  religious  belief  and  determining  what 
element  can  be  made  basic  in  the  construction 
of  an  adequate  faith. 

There  is  now  religion  enough  in  the  world, 
if  by  religion  is  meant  devotion,  worship, 
prayers  to  gods,  efforts  at  finding  the  Supreme 
Being,  and  the  outbreathings  toward  holy 
things.  What  country  could  be  more  religious 
than  India  from  that  point  of  view,  but  from 
the  viewpoint  of  Christianity,  what  land 
could  be  more  in  soul-darkness?  What  is  it 
that  the  entire  Orient  must  have  in  order  to 
receive  light  and  a  new  life?    Evidently  there 


36     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

must  be  a  change  at  the  very  center.  Before 
Copernicus  there  was  just  as  much  sunhght, 
just  as  kindly  a  moon,  just  as  superb  firma- 
ment of  stars  as  after  his  marvelous  labors. 
Eut  the  movements  of  these  upper  worlds 
were  confusing  to  the  astronomers,  who  re- 
quired system  and  reliable  laws  by  which  to 
set  courses  and  determine  age-long  activities. 
Hitherto  in  their  calculations  the  earth  had 
been  recognized  as  the  center  of  the  heavenly 
system.  Copernicus,  without  depreciating  the 
importance  of  the  earth,  declared  that  system 
would  be  possible  only  if  the  sun  were  made 
the  center.  That  was  the  beginning  of  the  new 
astronomy,  the  new  navigation,  and  the  open- 
ing of  the  modern  world.  The  religions  of 
the  Orient,  whatever  their  light  and  beauty, 
can  never  explain  the  world,  its  forces,  its 
movements,  and  its  destinies  till  they  change 
their  centers.  They  can  never  come  right  un- 
til they  recognize  the  Sun  of  righteousness  as 
the  center  of  our  human  system  and  the  con- 
troller of  our  earthly  world.  They  must  be 
brought  to  see  that  He  is  not  only  the  source 
of  light  and  warmth,  but  that  He  creates  the 
forces  of  life,  holds  by  His  own  mighty  centri- 
petal power  the  bodies  in  their  orbits  and  the 
worlds  in  their  courses,  and  enables  them  to 


INTERPRETING  RELIGIOUS  BELIEFS      37 

fulfill  their  destinies  in  accord  with  the  pur- 
pose of  the  Creator.  The  supreme  question 
before  the  Christian  is,  How  can  this  new 
heavenly  system  be  brought  to  the  understand- 
ing and  acceptance  of  the  Orientals? 


In  the  analysis  of  the  civilization  of  the 
Orient  nothing  is  more  outstanding,  more  im- 
pressive and  more  oppressive  than  the  fearful 
intellectual  and  spiritual  haze  that  envelops 
the  fundamentals  of  life.  There  is  a  mystical 
groping  after  the  meaning  of  things  with  a 
pall  of  uncertainty  resting  on  the  most  pre- 
cious of  religious  beliefs.  Life  lacks  direct- 
ness. Circumlocution  marks  all  business, 
diplomacy,  engagements  and  the  common  re- 
lations of  the  people.  Religion  is  wanting  in 
clear-cut  aims  and  definite  vitalizing  purpose. 
The  devotion  is  beautiful,  the  sacrifices  are  ex- 
tensive, and  the  worship  is  profoundly  sincere, 
but  the  end  of  it  all  is  not  clear,  and  its  value 
not  exalting.  All  kinds  of  religious  degrada- 
tions are  current  and  the  superstitions  are  all 
but  revolting.  Even  the  religious  practices  of 
the  highest  are  pitiably  below  what  their  in- 
telligence   would    seemingly    warrant.      The 


38     IMAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

aristocratic,  large-minded  Chinese  will  wor- 
ship before  the  ancestral  tablets  and  make 
offerings  to  the  spirits  of  their  progenitors. 
The  rich,  superior  Hindus  will  ceremoniously 
bathe  in  the  muddy  waters  of  the  Ganges  with 
all  the  manifestations  of  true  worship.  The 
temples  exhibit  scenes  of  distressing  intellec- 
tual and  spiritual  darkness.  Japan,  China, 
Burmah  and  India  present  different  aspects 
of  life  and  thought,  but  the  same  haze  is  over 
all.  It  is  this  which  makes  the  Orient  a  thing 
apart.  It  is  the  home  of  occultism.  Kipling 
was  so  impressed  and  oppressed  by  the  ob- 
scurantism as  to  write: 

*'Oh,  East  is  East,  and  West  is  West, 

And  never  the  twain  shall  meet 
Till  earth  and  sky  stand  presently 
At  God's  great  judgment  seat." 

It  may  be  profitable  to  review  briefly  the 
salient  features  of  the  non-Christian  faiths. 
By  doing  so  it  will  be  clearly  seen  that  the 
Orient  has  never  had  an  adequate  comprehen- 
sion and  valuation  of  personality.  Right  here 
is  its  supreme  defect.  The  appalling  haze  that 
holds  the  people  in  their  indecision  and  indirec- 
tion is  largely,  if  not  altogether,  due  to  this 
fact.     The  ethnic  faiths  discount  personality 


INTERPRETING  RELIGIOUS  BELIEFS      39 

and  lay  bases  for  its  extinction.  Taoism  is 
perhaps  the  oldest  cult  in  China.  Tao  means 
"The  Way,"  or  "The  Way  of  the  World"  or 
"Nature."  It  is  a  power  immaterial,  invisible, 
inaudible,  intangible,  ubiquitous,  indefinable, 
eternal,  which  finds  expression  in  various 
forms.  Pope  has  all  but  represented  the  same 
thought. 

**A11  are  but  parts  of  one  stupendous  whole. 
Whose  body  nature  is,  nature  the   soul. 
That,  changed  through  all,  and  yet  in  all  the  same, 
Great  in  the  earth  as  in  the  ethereal  frame, 
Warms  in  the  sun,  refreshes  in  the  breeze. 
Glows  in  the  stars,  and  blossoms  in  the  trees. 
Lives  through  all  life,  extends  through  all  extent. 
Spreads   undivided,  operates   unspent. 
Breathes  in  our  soul,  informs  our  mortal  part 
As  full,  as  perfect,  in  heir  as  heart. 
To  It  no  high,  no  low, 'no  great,  no  small. 
It   fills.   It  bounds,  connects   and  equals   all." 

Laotze,  the  founder  of  Taoism,  took  his  con- 
trolling idea  from  the  orderly  operations  of 
nature,  which  seemed  to  be  accomplished 
without  effort  or  purpose.  He  consequently 
made  inaction  the  cornerstone  of  his  doctrine 
and  cultivated  it  as  the  chief  virtue.  He  re- 
nounced learning  and  wisdom,  developed  in- 
decision and  irresoluteness,  and  made  much  of 
the  vacant  and  stupid  look.    While  the  meta- 


40     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

physical  teachings  of  Laotze  were  beyond  the 
common  people,  the  practical  corollaries  found 
ready  response  in  their  natural  aptitudes. 
Irresponsible  nature  became  the  teacher  of 
lethargy  and  ambiguity  to  capable,  respon- 
sible man. 

Confucius  was  a  political  thinker  and  was 
chiefly  concerned  with  government,  order, 
rules  and  regulations  of  life  and  conduct.  He 
was  a  great  teacher  of  high  ethics,  and  really 
founded  the  moral  code  that  has  been  domi- 
nant in  China  for  twenty-four  centuries.  Con- 
fucianism has  elevated  moral  values  for  indi- 
viduals and  the  state,  but  has  failed  to  direct 
religious  instinct  to  worthy  ends  and  the  for- 
mulation of  adequate  religious  conceptions. 
Confucius  was  in  reality  an  agnostic,  sought 
no  god  and  made  no  claims  to  the  establish- 
ment of  a  religion.  It  is  the  entire  absence  of 
all  genuine  religious  truth  in  his  system  of 
philosophy  that  allowed,  if  not  encouraged, 
the  direful  idolatry  which  has  afflicted  China. 
The  forests  are  filled  with  temples  and  shrines, 
and  sportive  spirits  are  in  command  of  all  na- 
ture. The  spirits  of  the  soil  come  all  but  first 
in  the  worship  of  the  people.  Multitudes  of 
gods  are  acknowledged,  of  which  nature  is  the 
mother.    The  secret  of  this  religious  chaos  is, 


INTERPRETING  RELIGIOUS  BELIEFS      41 

Confucius,  like  Laotze,  had  no  vital  philosophy 
of  man.  Personality  received  little  or  no  em- 
phasis by  them.  Nature,  dull  and  speechless, 
drove  their  thoughts  to  the  possibilities  of  the 
impending  silence.  They  heard  not  the  voice 
of  man  calling  to  the  clearer  heights  and  the 
nobler  views  of  life  and  the  world.  They  left 
the  people  at  the  mercy  of  their  own  imagina- 
tions, in  the  midst  of  an  awe-inspiring  and  ter- 
ror-awakening world. 

The  worship  of  ancestors  has  great  impor- 
tance in  the  modern  religion  of  the  Chinese 
people.  It  is  their  belief  that  the  spirits  of  the 
dead  linger  about  their  old  habitations  to 
watch  over,  protect  and  prosper  the  living. 
The  dead  have  much  the  same  needs,  motives 
and  labors  as  the  living.  It  is  incumbent  upon 
the  living  to  cherish  and  honor  them  and  pro- 
vide habitations  and  furnish  them  with  articles 
of  use  and  desire  appropriate  to  their  calling 
and  rank  on  earth.  Such  a  belief  cements  the 
family  bond,  creates  the  consciousness  of  its 
unity  and  perpetuity  through  the  generations 
and  cultivates  parental  love  and  filial  devotion. 
But  it  also  puts  the  leaden  hand  of  the  past 
upon  the  aspirations  and  movements  of  the 
present.  It  provides  such  a  system  of  disem- 
bodied spirits  as  to  make  the  world  a  grewsome 


42     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

dwelling  place,  and  life  one  long  effort  at  the 
evasion  of  any  offense  to  those  who  populate 
the  spirit  world.  Demons,  ghosts  and  vam- 
pires create  a  population  for  China  fully  as 
dense  as  that  which  tabernacles  in  the  body. 
As  a  consequence  demonology  is  the  dominat- 
ing force  in  the  life  of  the  people.  Spirits! 
Spirits!  Spirits!  These  monopolize  the  in- 
terests and  the  better  powers  of  the  Chinese. 
There  can  be  no  remedy  for  this  fearful  in- 
tellectual and  spiritual  state  save  a  proper 
philosophy  or  personality. 

Whatever  may  be  said  of  the  ethnic  religious 
faiths.  Buddhism  and  Hinduism  control  the 
beliefs  of  the  Orient.  An  exception  must  be 
made  of  about  one-fifth  of  the  people  in  India 
and  thirty  million  Chinese,  who  are  Moham- 
medans. Buddhism  has  been  practically 
driven  out  of  India  by  Hinduism,  but  it  dom- 
inates Burmah,  Siam  and  Tibet,  and  is  the 
controlling  faith  in  China  and  Japan.  In 
China  it  is  mixed  with  Taoism  and  Con- 
fucianism, and  in  Japan  with  Shintoism,  but 
these  nature  faiths  and  ethical  codes  do  not 
materially  interfere  with  Buddhistic  concep- 
tions and  ways  of  worship.  Buddhism  does 
not  attempt  to  solve  the  problem  of  the  origin 
of  the  universe.    It  has  to  do  with  the  material 


INTERPRETING  RELIGIOUS  BELIEFS      43 

world  and  existences  as  they  are.  It  holds  the 
utter  vanity  of  all  earthly  good.  Life  is  an 
evil.  With  decay  and  death  there  is  the  in- 
evitable law  of  rebirth.  Buddhism  does  not 
aspire  to  immortality  of  the  soul,  or  even  to 
the  rebirth  of  the  individual.  The  seed  of  ex- 
istence, called  "Karma,"  must  be  destroyed  if 
another  life  is  to  be  stopped.  "Karma"  can 
be  destroyed  only  by  eight  things,  "Right 
views,  right  thoughts,  right  speech,  right  ac- 
tions, right  living,  right  exertion,  right  recol- 
lection and  right  meditation."  There  is  noth- 
ing eternal  but  the  law  of  change,  cause  and 
effect.  Everj^thing  is  passing;  nothing  is; 
everything  becomes.  This  organized  life  con- 
tains in  itself  no  eternal  germ;  it  passes  away 
like  everything  else,  and  there  remains  only 
the  accumulated  results  of  itself  and  its  ac- 
tions. Each  individual  in  the  chain  inherits  all 
of  good  or  evil  that  all  its  predecessors  have 
done,  or  been,  and  takes  up  the  struggle 
toward  enlightenment  w^here  they  left  it.  The 
Buddhist  lives  and  works,  not  for  himself,  but, 
by  his  virtue,  to  decrease  the  sum  of  misery  of 
sentient  beings. 

The  Nirvana  sought  is  simply  extinction,  yet 
it  is  described  as  the  happy  seat,  the  excellent 
eternal  place  of  bliss  where  there  is  no  more 


44j     making  the  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

death  nor  decay,  the  home  of  peace,  the  other 
side  of  the  ocean  of  existence,  the  harbor  of 
refuge.  Life  must  be  got  rid  of,  because  that 
which  causes  Hf e  caused  also  decay  and  death ; 
and  these  counteract  what  good  hfe  may  give. 
Salvation  consists,  therefore,  in  getting  rid  of 
all,  but  it  can  be  had  only  through  a  radical 
change  in  man's  nature  brought  about  by  his 
own  self-denial  and  self-control.  Mental  cul- 
ture and  not  mental  death  becomes  a  neces- 
sity. Men  differ  from  each  other,  not  by  the 
chances  of  birth,  but  by  their  own  attainments 
and  character.  Very  naturally,  rapid  prog- 
ress in  spiritual  life  was  considered  possible 
only  with  the  ascetic  life.  With  asceticism 
came  a  mass  of  legends  about  the  founder's 
life.  Fearful  superstitions,  devil-worship, 
witchcraft,  astrology  and  what-not  have  grown 
up  with  Buddhism,  and  by  Buddhism  they 
will  be  continued  and  supported.  Since  life 
was  to  be  escaped  and  immortality  was  not  pos- 
sible, self-destruction  has  had  no  terror,  ex- 
cept that  it  lay  the  burden  of  such  misdoing 
upon  those  that  came  after.  The  Japanese 
general  who  committed  suicide  as  a  testimony 
of  love  and  loyalty  to  his  dying  emperor  es- 
caped a  worthless  thing,  life,  and  contributed 
great  virtue  in  such  a  deed  to  the  accumulated 


INTERPRETING  RELIGIOUS  BELIEFS      45 

merit  of  the  people.  The  soldiers  who  fell  in 
battle  lost  nothing  personally,  but  by  their 
service  they  built  merit  for  their  race.  Such 
is  the  Buddhist  mind  of  the  Orient.  Pessimism 
could  scarcely  be  more  pronounced  or  more 
thoroughly  wrought  into  the  life  of  the  people. 
Hinduism  preceded  Buddhism  and  was  the 
basis  of  Gautama's  thinking.  Brahmanism  is 
a  religion  of  abstraction.  It  holds  to  the  con- 
ception of  an  absolute,  all  embracing  spirit, 
unconditioned.  It  is  the  original  cause  and  is 
the  ultimate  goal  of  all  individual  souls.  Brah- 
manism assumed  the  ceaseless  working  of  the 
absolute  spirit  as  a  creative,  conservative  and 
destructive  principle  under  three  divine  per- 
sonalities. This  assumption  gave  rise  to  poly- 
theism of  the  most  pronounced  kind.  No  peo- 
ple ever  had  so  many  gods  of  such  varying 
kinds  and  powers.  The  third  doctrine  was 
that  of  the  transmigration  of  soul,  the  reincar- 
nations of  human  spirits.  The  possibilities  in 
rebirth,  reincarnation,  range  from  the  meanest 
beast  to  the  highest  spiritual  being.  With 
such  possibilities  it  became  very  necessary  that 
the  purity  of  descent  and  the  purity  of  re- 
ligious belief  and  ceremonial  usage  be  care- 
fully preserved.  This  gave  rise  to  the  caste 
system.    Indo- Aryans  not  only  kept  the  native 


46     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

races  apart  from  social  intercourse  with  them- 
selves, but  shut  them  out  from  participation  in 
their  own  high  aims,  religious  convictions  and 
ceremonial  practices.  Instead  of  attempting 
to  raise  the  standards  of  spiritual  life,  or  even 
allowing  gradual  intercourse  to  bring  about 
a  community  of  intellectual  culture  and  re- 
ligious sentiment,  they  set  up  artificial  bar- 
riers in  order  to  prevent  their  own  traditional 
forms  of  devotion  from  being  contaminated 
by  the  obnoxious  practices  of  the  servile  race. 
The  serf  was  not  allowed  to  worship  the  gods 
of  the  Aryan  freeman.  To-day  India  is  a 
seething  mass  of  pantheism,  polytheism,  oc- 
cultism, demonism,  animalism  and  horrible 
superstition.  Nirvana  is  the  highest  goal  in  the 
conceptions  of  the  best  and  the  greatest,  and 
it  is  hid  in  haze.  Darkness  rests  heavily  upon 
the  millions  in  this  country  of  impersonal  re- 
ligion. Without  the  clarifying  consciousness 
of  transcendent  personality  India  will  never 
see  the  sun  in  her  religious  heavens. 

Mohammedanism  is  the  religion  of  two  hun- 
dred sixty  millions  of  people.  Of  these  more 
than  sixty  millions  are  in  India  and  thirty  mil- 
lions in  China.  The  near  East,  covering  the 
former  Turkish  Empire,  Persia,  Arabia, 
Egypt  and  the  North  African  countries,  are 


INTERPRETING  RELIGIOUS  BELIEFS      47 

under  its  domination.  This  faith  was  formu- 
lated in  the  seventh  century  of  the  Christian 
era.  Its  founder  was  an  Arab,  who  was 
possessed  of  the  old  traditional  religious 
conceptions  of  his  people.  He  was  thor- 
oughly conversant  with  ancient  Judaism, 
but  knew  nothing  of  Jesus  Christ,  more 
than  the  name  which  his  disciples  made  far 
inferior  to  that  of  Mohammed.  Mohammed- 
anism has  always  proclaimed  an  unyielding 
monotheism.  It  has  fought  all  forms  of 
idolatry.  It  has  nurtured  faith  in  a  sov- 
ereign God.  But  it  has  been  the  victim  of 
the  most  inflexible  fatalism.  Man  is  a  mere 
puppet  in  the  hands  of  the  Supreme  Being 
of  the  universe  and  is  not  responsible  for  the 
movements  of  the  world.  When  the  Sultan 
of  Turkey  was  dethroned  in  1908,  he  had  but 
one  comment  to  make:  "It  is  the  will  of  God.'* 
Whatever  takes  places  is  at  "the  will  of  God." 
This  sturdy  faith  in  an  invincible  Sovereign 
puts  iron  into  the  nerve  and  dauntless  deter- 
mination into  the  spirit,  but  it  fosters  uncon- 
cern for  the  higher  personal  qualities  and  in- 
difference to  the  progress  of  civilization.  The 
exaltation  of  Deity  is  noble,  but  the  deprecia- 
tion of  human  personality  with  its  obligations 
is  disastrous.     There  is  no  demand  by  Chris- 


48     IVIAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

tianity  that  the  Sovereign  God  be  dethroned, 
but  that  man  must  be  made  to  reahze  his  son- 
ship  to  the  most  High  and  his  responsibihty 
as  a  co-laborer  with  the  Almighty  in  establish- 
ment of  the  divine  kingdom  in  the  earth. 


The  oriental  world  can  never  be  brought  into 
a  new  and  competent  religious  faith  without 
a  new  and  adequate  philosophy  of  personalism. 
The  religious  spirit  is  there  and  the  mystical 
interest  in  and  insight  into  spiritual  value  are 
highly  developed,  but  there  is  wanting  an  or- 
ganizing spirit  to  head  up,  systematize,  ener- 
gize and  direct  thought  and  effort.  The  re- 
ligious system  is  without  a  center  or  an  end. 
The  conception  of  a  world  of  persons  with  a 
Supreme  Person  at  the  head  is  foreign  to  the 
oriental  mind.  Pantheism  has  been  inevitable 
in  the  midst  of  massive  forces  of  nature  almost 
entirely  not  understood  when  there  was  no 
conception  of  a  Supreme  personality  as  the 
controlling  power.  Xature  might  be  diffused 
with  intelhgence,  or  some  pervading  mind 
might  be  recognized  in  the  movements  and  ac- 
tivities of  the  material  world,  or  some  super- 
lative power  be  in  command,  but  that  would 


INTERPRETING  RELIGIOUS  BELIEFS      49 

not  be  enough.  The  intelhgent  worshiper  must 
have  personality  as  the  object  of  adoration. 
Though  he  bow  before  stocks  and  stones,  the 
object  of  his  worship  is  not  the  image  but  the 
personahty  represented  by  the  image.  If  he 
does  not  find  such  a  person  in  the  Master 
of  Creation,  he  will  attempt  to  posit  personali- 
ties in  nature,  of  varying  value,  to  whom  he 
will  give  worship.  This  is  what  has  happened 
and  is  happening  in  the  non-Christian  world. 
Pol>i;heism  has  followed  pantheism.  Without 
a  Supreme  God-Personality  a  multiplicity  of 
god-personalities  has  been  inevitable.  There  is 
but  one  cure  for  pohi:heism  and  that  is  the 
establishment  of  a  Supreme  Person  in  the  Uni- 
verse. Pantheism  can  exist  only  with  the  sub- 
merging or  extinction  of  personality,  and 
wherever  it  is  dominant  personality  ceases  to 
be  assertive.  On  the  other  hand,  ^vith  the  rise 
of  personahty  the  mists  of  pantheism  are 
driven  away. 

Borden  P.  Bowne  in  his  "Personalism"  said: 
*'The  essential  meaning  of  personality  is  self- 
hood, self-consciousness,  self-control  and  the 
power  to  know."  The  fact  of  personality  is 
not  that  of  the  finite  or  infinite,  but  simply 
of  knowledge,  the  consciousness  of  self,  the 
ability  to  determine  self  action,  and  to  control 


50     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

the  self  in  its  choices  and  operations.  Com- 
plete and  perfect  selfhood,  self-consciousness 
and  self-determination  would  mean  a  complete 
and  perfect  personality.  This  could  not  be 
expected  in  the  finite,  but  only  in  the  infinite 
Being.  The  Supreme  Person  is  without  the 
limitations  and  accidents  of  the  human  per- 
sonality, but  the  Supreme  Person  and  the 
human  differ  not  in  kind  but  in  degree  of  self- 
hood. That  is  the  interpretation  of  the  Scrip- 
tural statement,  "So  God  created  man  in  his 
own  image."  The  distinctive  thing  about  man 
is  not  his  form  or  features,  his  corporeal  sub- 
stance and  physical  endowments,  but  the  self- 
hood with  its  self-consciousness  and  self-deter- 
mination and  power  to  know  which  distinguish 
the  Supreme  Creator  himself.  God  is  not  an- 
thropomorphic. Man  in  his  essential  personal- 
ity is  no  more  tangible,  picturable,  visible  than 
is  God,  for  the  elements  of  personality  are 
without  bodily  or  carnal  significance.  But  the 
human  limitations  to  personality  may  be  re- 
duced, and  personality  may  be  enlarged,  mag- 
nified and  rendered  more  comprehensive.  The 
self  in  humanity  is  amenable  to  the  laws  of 
growth.  Self-consciousness  and  self-determi- 
nation become  more  accurate  and  more  power- 
ful as  selfhood  becomes  more  capacious  and 


INTERPRETING  RELIGIOUS  BELIEFS      51 

more  forcefuL  Whatever  makes  for  the  de- 
velopment of  selfhood  advances  personality 
and  renders  it  confidently  assertive  in  deter- 
mining the  issues  of  life.  Without  this  asser- 
tiveness  humanity  gropes  and  grovels  in  dark- 
ness and  degradation;  but  with  it  the  human 
rises  to  the  realm  of  achievement,  dominion 
and  supreme  worth. 

Personality  is  the  dominant  principle  of 
humanity.  It  comes  to  enlarged  strength  and 
effectiveness  through  the  increase  of  psychical 
energies.  Whatever  will  quicken  the  psychical 
element,  broaden  its  sweep  and  perfect  its 
vision,  will  add  to  the  force  of  this  dominant 
principle.  Since  the  directive  control  in  the 
world  is  in  the  personal  will  there  is  necessity 
that  this  be  impelled  by  high  purpose  and 
righteous  motives.  Personal  dynamics  are 
pushing  forward  the  processes  in  world  devel- 
opment. Rehgion  that  fails  to  capture  this 
citadel  of  human  interests,  this  source  of  life 
currents,  this  center  of  world  control  becomes 
a  thing  apart  and  void.  That  it  has  not  done 
so  in  the  vast  areas  of  human  thinking  the  non- 
Christian  world  bears  to-day  unmistakable  tes- 
timony. Monstrous  human  failure  is  charge- 
able to  the  lack  of  religion  to  possess  the  courts 
of  human  consciousness  and  assume  the  throne 


52     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

of  human  will.  Religion  has  been  too  content 
with  the  ante-chamber  of  human  life  and  too 
unmindful  of  what  awaits  within.  The  door 
will  not  be  opened  until  personality  comes  to 
the  place  of  first  importance.  Religion  will  be 
weak,  beggarly  and  helpless  until  it  ascends 
the  throne  of  human  power.  The  history  of 
the  centuries  will  be  one  monotonous  routine 
until  the  creative  energy  of  constructive  per- 
sonality is  introduced  into  the  movements  of 
the  race.  The  currents  must  be  turned  into 
another  and  larger  channel  before  the  world 
moves  into  a  nobler  and  greater  sphere.  Per- 
sonality holds  the  keys  that  unlock  the  pent-up 
resources  of  God  and  man  and  the  possibilities 
of  the  new  creation  for  the  new  earth.  Re- 
ligion has  as  its  first  responsibility  the  setting 
of  personality  to  the  sublime  task  of  bringing 
to  hand  the  Kingdom  of  God  in  the  earth. 

The  development  of  personality  has  always 
been  the  supreme  objective  of  Christianity. 
Man  is  the  greatest  factor  in  man's  world. 
The  defect  in  his  existence  is  not  in  the  Creator 
or  the  supernatural  powers  that  control  but 
in  man  himself.  Sin  lies  at  his  door  and  is 
not  chargeable  to  any  higher  power.  Life 
is  not  bad;  it  is  man,  that  lives  it,  who  is  bad. 
With  man  good,  life  will  be  good.    The  cure 


INTERPRETING  RELIGIOUS  BELIEFS      53 

of  life's  ills  is  not  extinction  but  exaltation. 
That  exaltation  is  not  only  possible  but  certain 
with  personahty  brought  to  its  legitimate  and 
preordained  status  and  given  that  range  of 
righteous  control  for  which  it  has  been  freely 
endowed.  That  which  persists  is  not  some 
blind  life  force  but  intelligent,  purposeful  per- 
sonality. The  primary  task  of  religion  is  so 
to  purify  and  fortify  personality  as  to  pre- 
pare it  for  collaboration  with  the  Supreme  per- 
sonality in  the  consummation  of  his  eternal 
purpose.  Character  becomes  at  once  in  such 
a  system  the  chief  attainment  in  human  life. 
Christianity  has  made  personal  righteousness 
indispensable  to  citizenship  and  service  in  and 
through  the  kingdom  that  Jesus  declared  he 
came  to  establish.  "Repent"  was  the  opening 
injunction  and  condition.  Repentance  was  the 
initial  act  and  constant  attitude  in  the  Chris- 
tian regime.  Kings  and  princes  were  no  more 
than  fishermen  and  artisans  before  the  gospel 
of  repentance  and  personal  righteousness. 
The  worth  of  the  individual  lay  not  in  the 
circumstances  and  conditions  of  life  but  in  the 
personality  which  Christianity  undertook  to 
quicken,  energize  and  direct.  The  entire  sys- 
tem of  Christian  doctrine,  salvation  and  sendee 
is  built  about  personality.     With  this  center 


54     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

it  has  endeavored  to  set  the  heavens  in  order 
and  make  luminous  and  intelligent  the  move- 
ments of  the  earth. 

Christianity  is  the  religion  of  a  Person.  No 
other  religion  can  or  does  make  any  such  claim. 
Taoism  was  founded  by  Laotze  but  not  upon 
him.  Brahmanism  is  a  philosophy  rather  than 
a  religion,  and  came  from  a  body  of  great 
teachers.  Confucius  made  no  claim  to  the  es- 
tablishment of  more  than  a  code  of  morals. 
Gautama  gave  the  world  Buddhism  but  the 
very  core  of  it  is  the  extinction  of  personality. 
He  was  no  more  than  its  highest  exponent. 
Mohammedanism  proclaims  its  founder  as  the 
great  prophet,  but  not  as  its  foundation. 
Christianity  makes  Jesus  Christ  its  chief  corner 
stone.  It  rests  its  claims  upon  Christ,  the  ideal 
created  and  set  forth  by  Jesus  of  Nazareth. 
He  was  a  great  teacher;  but  he  is  the  great 
Savior.  He  delivered  marvelous  doctrines; 
but  he  wrought  in  and  through  himself  won- 
drous salvation.  Man  is  taught  that  salvation 
is  not  by  faith  that  believes  the  things  reported 
of  Jesus  but  by  faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  the  Son 
of  God.  Not  because  of  what  he  said  or  did 
but  because  of  what  he  was  and  is  man  has 
his  eternal  hope.  "Christ  in  you  the  hope  of 
glory"   was   Paul's    statement   of   the   issue. 


INTERPRETING  RELIGIOUS  BELIEFS      55 

Christ  is  the  center  of  the  heavenly  system  and 
attracts  to  himself  everything  that  pertains  to 
man's  world.  Jesus  made  this  claim  for  him- 
self as  the  Christ  of  God  and  the  Christian 
believers  have  wrought  out  life  upon  that  basis. 
Those  who  have  attempted  to  make  of  Jesus 
Christ  simply  a  myth  have  had  small  hearing, 
because  they  assail  the  very  foundation  of  the 
Christian  stronghold.  It  is  the  person  of 
Christ  that  appeals  to  men  of  like  passions. 
Jesus  Christ  was  the  incarnation  of  God  that 
he  revealed,  and  the  revelation  of  man  that 
required  salvation.  In  him  man  and  God 
found  their  union  and  unity. 

The  fundamental  doctrines  of  Christianity 
relate  to  personality.  They  open  with  the  in- 
carnation of  the  Son  of  God.  The  very  con- 
tent of  the  concept  of  *'Son"  is  personality. 
It  connotes  nothing  else.  The  Son  of  God 
became  and  was  the  son  of  man  and  thus  iden- 
tified himself  with  humanity.  The  resurrection 
was  accomplished  in  demonstration  of  the 
power  inherent  in  the  divine  personality  over 
the  forces  that  prevail  in  the  material  world. 
The  atonement  was  achieved  by  the  Divine 
person  for  the  human  person.  The  Holy 
Spirit  was  sent  not  as  some  diffusive  influence 
but  as  divine  personality  representative  of  the 


56     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

triune  Godhead.  There  is  no  teaching  about 
Christ  that  is  not  fundamentally  personal. 
Christianity's  relation  to  man  is  just  as  per- 
sonal. His  first  need  is  regeneration.  There 
is  no  trouble  about  his  body.  It  is  equal  to 
what  it  was  planned  to  carry.  Man's  cause 
of  distress  is  in  his  spirit.  Salvation,  if 
wrought  at  all,  must  be  achieved  in  this  very 
center  of  personality.  Repentance  and  faith 
are  personal.  The  witness  of  the  Spirit  is  the 
witness  of  personalities.  The  entire  plan  of 
salvation  is  personal  in  means,  methods,  agen- 
cies and  ends.  The  final  hope  of  immortahty 
is  not  in  carnal  things  but  in  the  deep,  true 
elements  of  the  spirit  life.  Heaven  is  to  be 
home  with  the  blissful  relations  which  re- 
deemed and  glorified  personalities  will  be  com- 
petent and  glad  to  establish.  The  rewards  set 
before  the  Christian  man  as  the  fruits  of  spirit 
life  are  personal  virtues,  such  as  joy,  peace  and 
love.  Material  and  carnal  things  have  their 
significance  to  the  Christian  only  in  the  spirit- 
ual values  into  which  they  are  being  changed, 
Jesus  said:  "What  shall  it  profit  a  man  if  he 
gains  the  whole  world  and  forfeits  his  own 
soul."  The  seat  of  man  is  the  soul,  the  spirit, 
the  personality,  and  Christianity  offers  salva- 
tion for  that  as  the  chief  end  of  all  religion. 


INTERPRETING  RELIGIOUS  BELIEFS      57 

The  creative  principle  in  Christianity  finds 
its  true  field  in  human  personality.  In  all 
creation  personality  is  always  recognized  as 
the  creative  force.  Gross  materialism  may  be 
satisfied  with  a  bold  impersonalism  in  the  world 
of  nature,  but  in  the  final  analysis  the  posited 
cause  is  personal.  "God  said'*  and  creation 
was  in  process.  Such  was  the  conception  of 
the  early  Scriptural  writers.  They  may  have 
clothed  God  with  a  crude  anthropomorphism 
but  what  they  were  endeavoring  to  do  was  to 
represent  the  creative  power  as  personal.  It 
is  always  so.  Wherever  there  is  personality 
there  is  and  will  be  creation.  Christianity  has 
been  unquestionably  the  greatest  creative  force 
in  the  world  in  the  last  nineteen  centuries.  It 
is  such  to-day.  The  reason  is  that  Christianity 
has  operated  in  and  upon  personality  which 
is  possessed  of  creative  energy.  The  non- 
Christian  religions  have  been  dead  and  dull  so 
far  as  stimulating  social  assertiveness  is  con- 
cerned, and  the  reason  is  not  far  to  seek.  They 
have  neglected  the  seat  of  the  creative  energy, 
and  wandered  in  the  haze  of  mystifying  pan- 
theism. Not  until  they  turn  the  searchlights 
upon  man  and  discover  him  will  they  be  pre- 
pared to  find  a  worthy  God  for  him.  They 
have  religious  values  in  their  keeping  but  they 


58     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

lack  the  organizing  force  which  Christianity 
so  gloriously  bestows.  By  the  standard  of 
purified,  fortified,  purposeful  personality  as 
a  product  all  religions  must  be  tested  and  esti- 
mated. The  non-Christian  world  awaits  to- 
day the  establishment  of  this  goal  for  its  new 
religious  life. 

Christianity  has  a  call  from  the  world  to- 
day to  be  not  a  conqueror  but  an  interpreter 
of  its  faiths.  It  must  have  no  ruthless  hand 
to  lay  upon  the  sacred  beliefs  of  men,  however 
feeble  and  inadequate  they  may  be.  Religion 
binds  man  to  the  most  sacred  things  that  he 
knows,  or  aspires  to  possess,  and  is  too  pre- 
cious to  be  allowed  to  suffer  at  the  hands  of 
a  greater  faith.  The  late  Dr.  Charles  Cuth- 
bert  Hall,  in  addressing  an  audience  in  India 
on  Christianity  as  the  fulfilling  religion,  said: 
"The  truth  that  is  in  your  several  faiths  cannot 
be  shaken  by  your  assimilation  of  the  faith  of 
Christ.  Truth  never  casts  out  truth;  it  casts 
out  only  error  and  whatsoever  else  has  served 
its  purpose  fully  and  is  ready  to  depart." 
Every  lesser  truth  which  the  gospel  touches 
is  not  destroyed  thereby  but  transfigured  and 
given  new  life  and  power.  Christianity's  mis- 
sion is  to  show  the  better  way,  to  reveal  the 
greater  truth,  and  to  demonstrate  the  more 


INTERPRETING  RELIGIOUS  BELIEFS      59 

glorious  life.  It  has  done  the  work  of  an 
interpreter  since  the  beginning.  The  records 
of  Judaism  are  full  of  ugliness  in  deceits,  cruel- 
ties, polygamies  and  else,  and  yet  the  Old  Tes- 
tament is  a  great  heritage  of  Christianity. 
The  sacrifices  and  ceremonies  with  their  dull- 
ness and  even  abhorrence  found  their  first  real 
meaning  through  the  Christian  interpretation. 
Christianity  furnished  the  key  to  the  divine 
truth  and  life  underneath  it  all,  and  man  with 
this  key  has  been  able  to  make  sacred  these 
Scriptures.  Just  so  Christianity  is  to  in- 
terpret to  the  oriental  mind  its  own  religious 
holdings.  Bishop  Charles  H.  Brent,  long  time 
resident  in  the  Philippine  Islands,  once  said: 
"Touched  by  Christianity  the  ideals  and  re- 
ligions of  the  Orient  are  a  contribution  to  the 
Kingdom  of  God ;  unconverted  and  unfulfilled 
they  are  a  menace  to  the  very  life  of  Christian- 
ity." Christianity  has  as  its  duty  the  inter- 
pretation of  religion  that  it  may  become  a  crea- 
tive force  in  human  redemption  and  exaltation. 
Religion  requires  not  only  such  an  interpre- 
tation as  will  make  clear  and  unmistakable  its 
meaning  and  purpose,  but  also  as  will  demon- 
strate its  power  to  achieve  for  the  worshiper 
the  supreme  ends  of  his  existence.  Auguste 
Sabatier  says:  "The  question  man  puts  to  him- 


60     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

self  in  religion  is  always  a  question  of  salva- 
tion, and  if  he  sometimes  seems  to  be  pursuing 
in  it  the  enigma  of  the  universe,  it  is  only  that 
he  may  solve  the  enigma  of  life."  Wherein 
lies  the  power  of  religion  to  effect  the  salva- 
tion of  man  ?  The  non- Christian  religions  offer 
to  secure  the  intervention  and  service  of  su- 
perior beings  by  bringing  to  bear  the  influences 
which  man  in  various  ways  may  discover  and 
utilize.  Christianity  teaches  that  salvation  ad- 
equate and  complete  is  not  effected  so  much 
for  man  as  in  him.  The  bought-up  man,  the 
bought-off  devil,  and  the  bought-in  God  are 
not  genuinely  Christian  conceptions,  however 
much  they  have  figured  in  theological  discus- 
sions. Religious  power  is  personal  power  for 
divine  ends,  and  it  is  transmitted  by  divine 
personality  to  the  human.  The  community  of 
relations  between  the  divine  and  human  per- 
sonalities is  the  medium  for  conveying  currents 
of  power  from  the  eternal  sources  to  the  human 
ends.  Salvation  is  in  the  completeness  of  this 
bond.  That  this  bond  between  the  human  and 
divine  personalities  can  be  established  and 
maintained  Christianity  boldly  affirms.  For 
that  purpose  Christ  became  in  man  Life.  The 
supreme  ends  of  man's  existence  became  at- 
tainable through  this  divine  power  which  Chris- 


INTERPRETING  RELIGIOUS  BELIEFS      61 

tianity  reveals.  Herein  is  the  sublime  inter- 
pretation of  religion  which  Christianity  offers 
all  humanity.  For  its  propagation  the  great 
missionary  movement  of  modern  Evangelical 
Christian  Churches  has  been  planned  and  is 
now  being  superbly  carried  forward. 


LECTURE     II :     RECONSTRUCTING 
MAN'S  THINKING 


The  interpretation  of  religion  by  Christian- 
ity, the  great  aim  in  missionary  effort,  is  by 
no  means  a  simple  process.  Rehgion  not  only 
involves  great  and  multiplied  interests  of  the 
people,  but  it  is  based  upon  intellectual  con- 
ceptions as  well  as  emotional  aspirations.  The 
old  psychology  that  taught  its  theory  of  facul- 
ties, or  more  or  less  separate  compartments  of 
mental  activities,  has  been  discarded,  and  to- 
day the  intellect,  sensibilities  and  will  are  re- 
garded as  simply  aspects  or  forms  of  expres- 
sion of  the  entire  personal  life. 

The  intellect  does  not  act  independently  of 
the  sensibilities  and  will,  and  neither  of  these 
acts  independently  of  the  intellect  or  of  the 
other.  The  entire  personal  being  is  definitely 
and  intimately  related  to  every  act  and  atti- 
tude. Unless  this  fact  is  duly  recognized, 
efforts  at  religious  transformation  may  be  seri- 
ously misdirected  and  the  results  be  not  only 
futile  but  disastrous.     It  is  to-day  well  es- 

62 


RECONSTRUCTING  MAN'S  THINKING      63 

tablished  that  the  moral  and  religious  can  have 
no  sphere  of  real  value  where  the  intellect  is 
not  the  guiding  force.  Low  intellectuality  will 
be  almost  invariably  accompanied  by  low 
morals  and  incompetent  religious  beliefs  and 
ignoble  acts.  High  intellectuality  will  cast  off 
all  religious  conceptions  and  expressions  which 
do  not  harmonize  with  itself.  Religion  is  the 
expression  of  the  entire  being  as  it  is,  in  its 
relation  to  the  Supreme  Being  in  the  human's 
universe.  Any  effort  to  transform  religious 
beliefs,  acts  of  worship,  or  activities  in  re- 
ligious service  cannot  be  expected  to  accom- 
plish the  desired  end  without  a  radical  altera- 
tion of  the  mental  holdings,  processes  and  atti- 
tudes of  the  person  or  people  involved. 

Because  of  this  fact,  if  for  no  other  reason, 
the  mental  life  of  the  people  is  of  primary 
importance  and  concern  to  religion.  There 
can  be  no  hope  of  making  truly  religious  a 
colony  of  mental  defectives,  however  beauti- 
fully emotional  they  may  be.  Reason  is  as 
essential  to  religion  as  to  all  else  that  lifts 
man  toward  the  ideal  set  forth  in  the  purpose 
of  creation.  Not  only  what  a  man  believes, 
but  what  he  with  his  existing  mental  endow- 
ments and  bias  is  capable  of  believing,  must 
be  taken  into  consideration  when  a  transforma- 


64     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

tion  of  his  views  is  under  contemplation.  Re- 
ligion is  the  result  of  thinking  as  well  as  of 
revelation.  In  fact,  revelation  would  not  be 
possible  without  the  mind  of  man  capable  of 
"thinking  God's  thoughts  after  Him"  and 
transmitting  them  to  the  race.  Laotze,  Con- 
fucius, Buddha,  and  the  great  company  of 
Hindu  philosophers  who  built  up  Brahmanism, 
were  thinkers,  and  their  matured  thoughts  have 
become  the  foundations  of  beliefs  of  far-reach- 
ing consequence.  But  thinking  in  specific 
lines,  or  channels,  or  grooves,  not  only  results 
in  certain  attained  thoughts  but  it  sets  the  mold 
of  the  mind,  if  it  does  not  in*  great  measure 
give  character  to  the  mental  fiber.  The  scien- 
tist is  frequently  forced  to  confess  his  loss  of 
capacity  for  metaphysics  or  classical  litera- 
ture. A  mathematician,  after  reading  Milton's 
"Paradise  Lost,"  is  reported  to  have  said  that 
it  was  a  very  interesting  book  but  that  it  did 
not  prove  anything.  The  mathematical  mind 
is  the  product  of  mathematical  thinking.  The 
same  is  true  of  the  scientific,  philosophical,  the- 
ological and  religious  mind.  The  mind  of  a 
people  must  be  converted  if  there  is  to  be  any 
transformation  in  its  beliefs. 

The  Christian  propaganda  must  necessarily 
begin  with  the  status  of  the  mind  of  the  peo- 


RECONSTRUCTING  MAN'S  THINKING     65 

pie,  its  characteristics  and  its  contents.  What 
is  its  philosophy  of  life  and  what  have  been 
the  processes  by  which  this  philosophy  has  been 
produced  are  necessary  questions,  prior  to  any 
intelligent  missionary  effort.  There  is  a  phi- 
losophy, a  system  of  metaphysics,  with  its  con- 
cepts of  knowledge  and  being,  at  the  center 
of  every  civilization.  These  conceptions  are 
the  real  determinative  elements  in  the  life  of 
a  people,  and  the  hfe  cannot  be  greatly 
changed  except  as  these  determinative  ele- 
ments are  affected.  There  are  those  who  speak 
slightingly  of  metaphysics,  especially  if  they 
are  possessed  of  certain  scientific  pretensions, 
but  even  they  have  their  metaphysics,  however 
poor  or  however  untenable.  There  must  be 
foundations  before  any  structures  can  be 
erected.  Human  beings  are  so  constituted  that 
they  must  have  a  philosophy  of  the  essence 
of  things,  the  basic  energies,  the  eternal  cause, 
and  the  forces  that  play  upon  the  world.  That 
philosophy  will  develop  a  great  First  Cause, 
the  relation  of  the  world  to  it,  and  conceptions 
of  how  man  can  be  harmonized  with  it.  It  is 
here  that  religion  rises  with  compulsion.  Re- 
ligious conceptions  have  a  philosophical  basis 
without  which  they  fail,  and  that  utterly,  un- 
less a  new  one  can  be  supplied.    No  great  abid- 


66     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

ing  religious  faith  can  be  maintained  upon  an 
unreasonable,  uncertain  and  unavailing  philo- 
sophical foundation,  whether  that  faith  be 
Christian  or  non-Christian.  On  the  other 
hand,  so  long  as  the  philosophical  ground  holds 
secure  and  unaffected,  the  religious  faith  will 
be  kept  steady,  sufficient  and  unmovable. 

The  reconstruction  of  the  human  mind  is  the 
most  difficult  labor  to  which  man  has  ever  set 
himself.  The  mature  mind  is  exceedingly- 
tenacious  in  its  holdings.  It  is  well  that  it  is 
so.  By  this  characteristic  comes  that  stability 
and  reliability  which  are  so  essential  to  prog- 
ress. So  difficult  is  the  work  of  reconstruction 
that  those  who  would  produce  a  new  mind  have 
sought  and  chosen  the  way  of  construction  in- 
stead, whenever  it  has  opened.  With  every 
people  there  is  a  large  body  of  individuals  of 
low  mental  equipment  in  whom  the  determina- 
tive conceptions  of  their  civilization  are  dim, 
poorly  understood  and  lightly  held.  Christian 
propagandists  have  generally  chosen  to  take 
these  individuals  and  build  in  them  a  new  life 
and  then  await  the  creation  by  natural  proc- 
esses of  new  minds  that  should  become  capable 
of  thinking  the  new  conceptions.  The  scien- 
tific laws  of  growth  have  been  relied  upon  to 
bring  about  in  due  course  the  new  creation. 


RECONSTRUCTING  MAN'S  THINKING      67 

The  son  of  the  low  caste  Indian  sweeper  has 
in  this  way  come  to  be  the  teacher  of  the  high 
caste,  self-righteous  Brahman,  and  the  children 
of  the  coolie  to  be  the  instructors  of  the  aris- 
tocratic Mandarins.  By  this  construction  of 
the  new  mind  in  the  neglected  man,  there  has 
been  erected  the  scaffolding  for  the  reconstruc- 
tion of  the  old  mind  in  the  dominant  elements 
of  the  non-Christian  peoples.  While  the  proc- 
ess is  slow,  if  faithfully  continued,  the  outcome 
will  be  certain.  These  neglected  elements  con- 
stitute such  enormous  masses  that  the  oppor- 
tunity for  constructive  work  in  them  is  all  but 
unlimited,  and  thereby  the  way  may  be  fully 
opened  to  the  reconstruction  of  the  thought 
of  the  non- Christian  world.  Such  an  oppor- 
tunity brings  with  it  the  imperative  responsi- 
bility for  the  greater  thought-life  of  man- 
kind. 

But  wisdom  indicates  that  before  any  ade- 
quate constructive  work  can  be  accomplished 
for  the  creation  of  a  new  mind,  there  should 
be  first  determined  the  mental  holdings,  the 
mental  habit  and  the  mental  fiber  of  the  people 
whose  mental  reconstruction  is  sought.  The 
task  to  be  done,  the  objective  to  be  achieved, 
the  end  to  be  attained,  should  be  carefully  sur- 
veyed and  fully  set  forth  in  bold  outline  before 


GS     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

the  process  for  its  complete  accomplishment  is 
entered  upon.  The  process  itself  can  be  little 
less  than  haphazard  if  fuU  knowledge  is  want- 
ing and  the  end  in  view  not  definitely  deter- 
mined. There  has  been  much  vain  missionary 
effort  because  of  the  lack  of  this  very  knowl- 
edge. The  gospel  has  often  been  proclaimed 
with  the  expectation  that  in  some  way  it  would 
do  its  work  irrespective  of  the  condition  of  the 
ground  upon  which  it  came.  The  parable  of 
the  sower  with  the  same  seed  on  the  barren 
road,  the  choked  thicket  and  the  prepared  land 
has  been  lost  to  such  spirit  agriculturists.  The 
sower  must  learn  that  his  duty  to  sow  is  no 
greater  than  to  break  up  the  hard-packed  earth 
and  clear  away  the  thicket  and  make  ready  the 
receiving  soil.  Christianity  can  become  domi- 
nant in  the  world  because  it  is  creative,  deals 
directly  with  personality,  and  affords  the  true 
revelation  of  God  and  his  fatherly  relations  to 
the  race,  but  it  must  have  an  intellect  that  can 
and  will  think  its  thought,  sensibilities  that  re- 
spond to  its  exalting  appeals,  and  a  will  that 
executes  unhesitatingly  and  joyfully  its  en- 
larging behests.  The  world  to  be  Christian 
must  have  a  Christian  mind.  Christian  emo- 
tions and  Christian  will. 

Religion  affects  and  is  affected  by  all  truth 


RECONSTRUCTING  MAN'S  THINKING      69 

and  it  can  never  come  to  a  stable  basis  with- 
out a  consistent  philosophy  of  all  life.  The 
peoples  of  the  non-Christian  world  are  far 
from  the  peoples  of  the  Christian  faith  in  the 
fundamental  conceptions  of  the  primary  forces 
of  the  universe.  God,  man  and  the  world  are 
the  three  great  powers  about  which  men  differ 
radically.  There  can  be  no  unity  of  the  human 
race  until  there  is  more  or  less  harmony  in  the 
conceptions  of  these  fundamental  forces.  Re- 
ligion is  the  life-effort  of  man  to  come  into 
proper  relations  with  God,  the  world  in  which 
he  lives,  and  his  fellow-beings.  So  long  as 
he  lacks  an  adequate  and  satisfying  compre- 
hension of  any  one  of  these,  he  is  incapacitated 
for  developing  trustworthy  religious  ideas  or 
entering  upon  a  dependable  religious  experi- 
ence. While  perfect  religious  conceptions  will 
never  be  possible  to  humanity  because  of  the 
limitations  that  belong  to  finite  beings,  yet  the 
approach  to  the  perfect  religion  is  being  made 
in  proportion  to  the  conformity  of  the  views 
held  of  God,  man  and  the  world  to  the  highest 
obtained  and  obtainable  facts.  Progress  to- 
ward the  establishment  of  the  most  nearly  per- 
fect religion  in  man  can  be  secured  only  as 
these  conceptions  are  clarified,  systematized 
and  lifted  to  the  highest  possible  level  which 


70      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

knowledge  and  revelation  can  produce.  It  is 
here  that  Christianity  has  been  able  to  establish 
its  claims  of  superiority  among  religions.  Its 
notions  of  God,  its  philosophy  of  the  world,  and 
its  knowledge  of  man  have  erected  standards 
of  value  and  means  for  their  attainment  which 
are  satisfactory  to  the  best  human  intelligence 
and  sufficient  for  the  highest  destiny  of  the 
race.  Christianity  has  set  itself  to  the  recon- 
struction of  human  thought  and  the  recon- 
struction of  the  human  mind  in  order  to  the 
establishment  in  the  earth  of  its  conceptions  of 
God,  man  and  the  universe.  This  is  requisite 
to  making  the  world  Christian. 


II 

The  first  thing  in  the  process  of  reconstruct- 
ing the  world's  thinking  is  to  determine  what 
the  mental  life  of  the  world  is,  the  trend  of 
its  activities,  the  manner  of  its  expression,  and 
what  has  brought  the  human  mind  to  its  pres- 
ent state,  attitude  and  fiber.  Reconstruction 
is  by  no  means  to  be  classified  with  abrupt  rev- 
olution. It  must  be  attained  through  a  normal 
development  by  rational  processes  under  the 
pressure  of  an  intelligent,  purposeful  plan. 
Such  a  process  must  not  be  hurried,  but  it 


RECONSTRUCTING  MAN'S  THINKING      71 

must  be  constant.  The  task  seems  all  but  lim- 
itless, and  most  difficult  of  accomplishment. 
That  half  the  people  of  tlie  world  cannot  read 
or  write  any  language  is  well  known ;  but  that 
does  not  mean  that  their  minds  are  bare  or 
necessarily  wanting  in  strength  or  capability. 
It  means  that  their  mental  furnishings  or  hold- 
ings are  largely  a  heritage  with  which  they 
will  part  very  reluctantly  and  which  they  will 
modify  very  slowly,  unless  they  come  into  the 
modern  methods  of  cultivated  peoples  for  ac- 
quiring knowledge.  Their  mental  fiber  has 
taken  its  texture  from  the  thought- stuff  with 
which  they  have  been  occupied.  The  fiber  can 
be  changed  by  changing  the  mental  food.  But 
there  must  be  created  the  taste,  the  appetite 
for  the  new  food  before  the  process  for  making 
a  new  mind  can  effectively  begin.  The  ques- 
tion arises.  What  is  the  thought  domain,  and 
what  can  be  done,  what  will  be  done,  what  is 
being  done  to  make  over  the  minds  of  eight 
hundred  million  persons  in  the  world  who  are 
unlettered  and  bound,  severely  bound,  to  the 
traditions  of  their  ancestors  and  the  thought- 
heritage  of  their  tribes?  If  the  world  is  to  be 
made  Christian,  this  question  must  have  an  an- 
swer before  the  comprehensive  movement  can 
be  projected. 


72     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

There  is  another  question  that  should  have 
diligent  consideration  early  in  this  movement. 
What  are  the  thoughts  or  systems  and  methods 
of  knowledge  which  are  now  most  pervasive 
in  society  and  most  influential  in  their  effects 
upon  the  present  and  the  future  of  the  race? 
Streams  of  thought  are  flowing  in  newly  made 
channels  from  one  part  of  the  world  to  the 
other.  There  are  gulf  streams  from  the  South 
and  the  far  East,  and  there  are  great  tides 
from  the  North  and  the  West.  What  are  these 
great  intellectual  currents  carrying  to  newly 
opened  bays  and  canals  and  distributing  out 
over  the  systems  for  human  refreshing?  "Oh, 
the  East  is  East,  and  the  West  is  West."  Not 
entirely  so  in  this  new  era  and  it  will  be  less 
so  in  the  near  to-morrow.  Europe  and  East- 
ern Asia  are  neighbors  now.  More  than  that, 
what  Europe  is  thinking  Eastern  Asia  learns 
with  its  breakfast.  The  great  universities  are 
not  national  any  more,  but  world-wide  institu- 
tions. The  old  missionary  was  the  exponent 
of  an  unknown  world.  Not  so  the  new  mis- 
sionary. Knowledge  has  its  own  systems  of 
transportation  and  communications  to  make 
the  world  wise.  What  has  Christianity  to  do 
with  these  systems  in  order  to  secure  the  con- 
summation of  its  divine  end?     The  world's 


RECONSTRUCTING  MAN'S  THINKING      73 

mind  is  being  transformed  and  human  thought 
reconstructed.  Is  Christianity  in  charge  of  the 
transformation  and  directing  of  the  work  of 
reconstruction? 

To  answer  these  questions  will  lead  to  an 
inquiry,  first,  into  the  attitude  of  the  human 
mind  to  be  changed  toward  the  world  in  which 
it  has  being  and  relation,  and  then  into  the 
pervasive  influence  and  the  prevailing  charac- 
teristics  of   the   intellectual   forces    that   are 
making  for  the  enlargement  of  the  world's 
knowledge  and  the  recasting  of  the  world's 
mind.     The  field  of  Christianity  is  the  world, 
all  the  world,  however  old,  however  new,  how- 
ever   cultured,    however    illiterate,    however 
strong,   however   weak.      Europe   and    Asia, 
America  and  Africa  are  alike  fields  in  this 
day  for  the  planting  of  the  real  Christianity 
of  the  Christ.     The  Christian  mind,  with  the 
Christian  fiber,  the  Christian  holdings  and  the 
Christian  heart,  is  the  object  in  the  new  project 
for  world-Christianization.    There  is  a  univer- 
sally recognized  need  of  new  ideals,  new  evo- 
lution of  man,  new  consciousness  of  God,  since 
the  shameful  suicidal  carnage  of  the  last  dec- 
ade.    The  heavens  are  still  leaden  with  the 
awful  clouds  which  the  explosions  of  old  ideas 
have    produced.      The    hymn    of    hate    has 


74      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

wrought  human  nerves  into  frenzy,  and  the 
thought  of  man  has  descended  to  the  level  of 
his  carnality.  Who  will  now  think  for  the 
race,  the  race  that  is  human,  the  race  of  the 
sons  of  God?  There  is  no  place  where  the 
raucous  voice  of  war-thunder  was  not  heard. 
The  world  has  been  aroused.  It  cannot  return 
to  its  old  couch  of  slumber.  It  has  made  up 
its  mind  that  it  must  get  up  and  go  forth  to 
the  day  that  is  dawning.  It  is  open  to  a  new 
morning  message,  fresh  as  the  dew  and  joyous 
as  the  sunlight.  It  can  be  brought  to  think 
new  thoughts  and  clothe  itself  in  new  habili- 
ments of  mental  life.  Who  will  be  the  mes- 
senger and  what  will  he  say  ? 

It  must  be  kept  in  mind  that  the  non-reading 
world  of  eight  hundred  millions  has  little 
knowledge  beyond  the  provincial  and  the  in- 
herited beliefs  and  traditions.  To  get  at  their 
mental  state  it  is  important  to  know  how  they 
came  to  what  they  now  possess,  or  what  now 
possesses  them.  That  the  dull  dumb  forces 
of  the  material  world  have  been  their  teachers 
must  be  recognized,  and  the  influence  of  that 
impact  can  scarcely  be  overestimated.  Many 
philosophers  have  declared  that  religion  origi- 
nated in  the  ominous  silence  of  the  forces  of 
nature  and  the  fear  which  they  have  induced. 


RECONSTRUCTING  MAN'S  THINKING      75 

An  old  Latin  poet  wrote:  "It  is  fear  that  en- 
genders the  gods."  It  is  easy  to  believe  that 
a  state  of  misery  and  distress  filled  the  heart 
with  infinite  terror  as  man  looked  upon  the 
disordered  and  destructive  forces  of  primitive 
nature  and  witnessed  the  phenomena  of  this 
mysterious  incomprehensible  world.  While 
fear  cannot  account  for  religion,  yet  religion 
rises  with  the  mystery  of  the  unknown.  From 
early  periods  to  the  latest  day  the  voices  of 
nature  have  awakened  the  spirit  of  worship. 
David  exclaimed:  *'The  heavens  declare  the 
glory  of  God  and  the  firmament  showeth  his 
handiwork."  There  is  a  vast  gulf  between  the 
spirit  of  David  and  that  of  Herbert  Spencer, 
who  found  himself  face  to  face  with  what  he 
termed  the  unknowable,  and  vaster  still  be- 
tween that  of  either  and  the  spirit  of  the  rude, 
untutored  man  of  the  heathen  world.  Nature 
strikes  terror,  or  awakens  adoration,  accord- 
ing to  the  knowledge  which  interprets  its  mes- 
sage to  man.  Religion  in  no  small  way  is  af- 
fected, if  not  swayed,  by  the  philosophy  of  the 
material  world. 

Tribes  in  their  primitive  state,  whether  of 
to-day  or  the  historic  past,  exhibit  a  religion 
of  varying  degrees  of  animism.  Spirits  to 
them  give  life  to  nature  and  are  causes  to  be 


76     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

reckoned  with  in  the  affairs  of  men.  Their 
conceptions  are  exceedingly  crude  but  they  are 
dominant  influences  in  their  lives.  Gods  and 
demons,  spirits  of  good  and  of  evil,  hold  sway 
over  them  and  can  be  appeased  only  by  some 
act  or  offering.  This  state  of  mind  to  an  amaz- 
ing extent  exists  in  the  present  day.  The  black 
peoples  of  Africa,  the  Indian  tribes  of  the 
Americas,  and  the  mountain  groups  of  central 
Asia  are  under  the  depressing  thralldom  of 
this  animistic  faith.  China  and  Japan,  with 
their  almost  five  hundred  millions,  are  enslaved 
to  these  destructive  conceptions,  while  the  vast 
majority  of  the  three  hundred  millions  in  In- 
dia stagger  under  the  same  burdening  views. 
China's  belief  in  a  dragon  that  inhabited  the 
earth  has  prevented  the  construction  of  a  rail- 
road system,  the  most  imperative  economic 
need  of  the  nation.  The  ground  could  not  be 
cut  for  fear  the  dragon's  back  would  be  struck ; 
and  if  so  he  would  bring  on  an  earthquake, 
a  famine  or  a  pestilence  to  show  his  anger. 
The  dead  could  not  be  put  into  the  ground 
because  of  the  dragon,  and  because  the  mounds 
made  over  the  coffins,  placed  wherever  the  liv- 
ing desired,  were  the  habitations  of  the  de- 
parted spirits.  Belief  in  demonology  domi- 
nates China.    The  pagoda  with  its  l^ve,  seven 


RECONSTRUCTING  MAN'S  THINKING      77 

or  nine  stories  is  a  monument  to  the  belief  in 
spirits.  The  pagoda  protects  the  town,  as  the 
spirits  on  leaving  its  top,  higher  than  any  build- 
ing, must  go  in  a  straight  hne,  and  thereby 
pass  over  the  city.  The  house  that  has  a  door- 
way that  fronts  an  open  lot  has  before  the  door 
a  brick  wall  ten  feet  wide  and  as  high  as  the 
eaves  of  the  house,  in  order  that  the  spirits 
coming  from  the  vacant  lot  may  strike  the 
wall  and  be  turned  down  the  street  and  thereby 
be  prevented  from  entering  the  house.  The 
cure  for  such  superstition  is  intellectual  en- 
lightenment already  too  long  delayed. 

The  temples  and  shrines  in  all  parts  of  China 
and  Japan  bear  unmistakable  testimony  to  the 
false  views  of  nature  and  its  hidden  forces. 
Taoism  and  Shintoism,  the  ethnic  faiths  of 
China  and  Japan,  are  almost  entirely  nature 
cults  and  could  not  endure  the  light  of  present- 
day  science.  The  Parsees  of  India,  a  most 
interesting  and  prosperous  people,  are  Zoroas- 
trians.  They  expose  the  bodies  of  the  dead 
to  be  eaten  by  vultures  because  they  consider 
tlie  earth  too  sacred  to  permit  a  burial,  and 
the  fire  too  holy  to  be  used  in  cremation.  This 
same  faith  is  held  as  the  ancient  belief  of 
Persia.  The  Jains  of  India  number  1,500,000. 
They  believe  that  even  inorganic  matter  may 


78      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

have  a  soul.  They  will  not  kill  anything,  not 
even  insects.  They  maintain  hospitals  for  cats, 
dogs,  decrepit  horses,  diseased  cows  and  other 
animals,  even  for  such  insects  as  can  be  pro- 
vided for.  They  build  in  the  cities  small  stone 
houses,  richly  carved,  for  the  birds  that  may 
seek  them.  In  the  eradication  of  birds  or  ani- 
mals that  may  carry  any  dangerous  disease, 
such  as  the  bubonic  plague,  they  are  great  ob- 
structionists. Yet  they  are  wealthy,  intelli- 
gent, progressive,  and  lead  in  industrial  and 
economic  development.  A  false  or  inadequate 
view  of  the  material  world  and  the  forces  of 
nature  has  led  to  these  peculiar  and  unwar- 
rantable notions.  The  people  are  devout.  No 
more  impressive  sight  ever  comes  to  a  Chris- 
tian traveler  than  that  of  a  vast  company  of 
Parsees  sitting  in  reverence  and  beautiful 
worship  of  the  golden  sun  at  its  setting  in 
Malabar  Bay  in  Bombay.  Nikko  the  Magnifi- 
cent in  Japan  is  a  fit  dwelling  place  for  the 
gods  the  Japanese  reckon  to  be  there,  if  beauty 
and  grandeur  can  make  it  so.  The  mountains 
in  their  mass,  the  rivers  in  their  mighty  flow, 
the  shady  nooks  and  the  silent  valleys,  the 
majestic  sun  and  the  mighty  spheres  have 
pressed  upon  great  souls  the  consciousness  of 
a  power  not  themselves  making  for  the  deter- 


RECONSTRUCTING  MAN'S  THINKING      79 

mination  of  the  highest  destiny  of  the  human 
race,  and  they  have  poured  out  before  them 
sincere  adoration. 

The  multitudinous  peoples  and  individuals 
who  worship  nature,  or  through  nature,  do  not 
know  nature.  They  worship  not  because  of 
what  they  know  but  because  of  what  they  find 
mysterious,  incomprehensible  and  awe-produc- 
ing. It  is  amazing  how  large  a  proportion  of 
the  earth's  inhabitants,  even  among  the  ad- 
herents of  Christianity,  base  their  worship  on 
the  mysterious.  Occultism  has  a  peculiar 
charm  and  makes  a  marvelous  appeal  to  those 
who  identify  the  supernatural  with  the  incom- 
prehensible. Christianity's  sublime  task  is  to 
make  the  supernatural  intelligible  and  to  flood 
with  light  the  occult  things  of  the  human 
world.  Darkness  is  no  proper  medium  of 
spiritual  virtues.  Blindness  is  not  predicable 
of  the  forces  of  nature  simply  because  man 
does  not  see  the  processes  by  which  they  op- 
erate. The  unknown  is  not  necessarily  the 
unknowable.  The  unknowable  has  been  dem- 
onstrated to  the  most  intellectual  of  the  race 
to  be  not  the  realm  of  gods  but  the  lamentable 
state  of  human  incompetents.  The  task  yet 
remains  to  illuminate  fully  this  region  of  the 
unknown,  clear  it  of  the  possibilities  of  bar- 


80     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

boring  gods,  and  relate  it  to  the  intelligible 
world.  Such  an  achievement  will  be  fraught 
with  perils,  as  well  as  productive  of  benedic- 
tions, to  that  portion  of  the  race  which  has 
based  religion  upon  this  unknown  in  nature. 
Illumination  that  destroys  error  must  reveal 
truth  of  finer  force  for  humanity  if  it  is  to 
be  held  to  an  adequate  purpose.  This  respon- 
sibility rests  with  those  who  set  themselves 
to  the  construction  of  the  new  thought-life. 


Ill 

The  human  race  can  never  be  fully  Chris- 
tian with  an  unreasonable  and  unfounded  view 
of  the  material  universe.  Religious  concep- 
tions based  upon  a  view  of  nature  and  its 
forces  which  science  will  make,  and  has  made, 
utterly  untenable,  will  fall  into  confusion  and 
pass  into  discard  as  people  see  the  falsity  of 
their  foundations.  Conceptions  based  upon 
ignorance  can  be  supported  and  maintained 
only  by  ignorance.  The  progress  of  science 
has  been  the  undoing  of  a  vast  amount  of  re- 
ligious thinking  among  the  oriental  peoples 
and  has  caused  the  revision  of  many  tenets  of 
Christian  groups.  Science  going  alone  is  a 
fearful  iconoclast  of  faith  and  the  generator 


RECONSTRUCTING  MAN'S  THINKING      81 

of  doubt,  agnosticism  and  even  atheism.  It 
makes  godless  the  vast  groups  who  found  their 
gods  in  and  through  the  material  world  or 
based  their  beliefs  upon  interpretations  of  life 
and  revelation  which  the  developments  of  sci- 
ence have  rendered  untenable.  It  is  a  sad 
fact  but  there  is  nothing  more  characteristic 
of  this  period  than  the  skepticism  of  the  world 
in  regard  to  religious  things,  due  to  the  actual 
achievements  of  science  and  the  materialistic 
spirit  which  it  has  generated  and  promoted. 
Even  in  the  great  laboratories  of  Christian 
countries,  the  investigators  have  become  dog- 
matically skeptical  of  religious  verities,  and 
not  infrequently  have  arrayed  themselves 
against  all  religion.  This  attitude  of  scientists 
in  the  occidental  lands  where  Christianity  is 
religiously  supreme,  has  made  the  establish- 
ment of  an  adequate  faith  along  with  modern 
science  increasingly  difficult  in  non-Christian 
countries.  This  effect  of  science  upon  the  mind 
of  the  race  has  emphasized  the  necessity  of  a 
new  inquiry  into  the  basic  principles  of  scien- 
tific truth,  the  demand  for  a  fuller  knowledge 
of  nature  than  science  frequently  if  not  gener- 
ally has  been  able  or  willing  so  far  to  give. 
Science  that  reveals  and  systematizes  the  facts 
of  nature  and  leads  to  its  interpretation  should 


82      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

be  the  handmaiden  of  religion  and  in  no  sense 
its  foe. 

Christianity  can  never  make  the  world  Chris- 
tian unless  it  can  make  Christian  the  world's 
science.  In  all  world-plans  the  anti- Christian 
must  be  as  much  the  subject  of  Christianiza- 
tion  processes  as  the  non- Christian.  Failure 
to  reach  the  former  can  eventually  end  in  noth- 
ing less  than  failure  to  reach  the  latter.  It 
is  well  recognized  that  so  mighty  a  force  as 
science  has  come  to  be  in  this  day  cannot  be 
checked  in  its  influential  impact  upon  human- 
ity. If  it  carries  a  destructive  principle  the 
labor  of  constructing  or  reconstructing  re- 
ligious conceptions  will  inevitably  be  hindered 
if  not  stopped.  Irrefutable  evidence  in  sup- 
port of  this  declaration  can  be  easily  and 
voluminously  adduced.  The  task  of  Christian- 
ity is  not  only  to  make  the  non-Christian  world 
scientific  in  order  to  produce  a  proper,  reason- 
able and  sufficient  explanation  of  nature  and 
an.  effective  reconstruction  of  their  falsely 
founded  religious  tenets,  but  in  addition,  to 
make  the  world-of-knowledge  Christian  in  the 
last  analysis  of  its  fundamental  principles  and 
in  its  impact  upon  religious  faith.  Science  has 
proceeded  upon  the  basis  that  it  is  without  re- 
ligion; that  is,  negative  in  its  attitude  and  re- 


RECONSTRUCTING  MAN'S  THINKING      83 

lation  to  religion.  In  other  words,  it  claims 
that  religion  is  outside  its  realm  of  thought 
and  application,  and  it  purports  to  be  colorless 
and  without  obligation  with  reference  to  the 
most  vital  and  essential  interests  of  man.  This 
is  the  declared  attitude  of  science  and  in  reality 
this  spirit  has  in  no  small  measure  passed  from 
the  colorless  negative  to  derisive  reproach, 
critical  antagonism  and  active  opposition. 
Europe  and  America,  the  home  of  Christianity 
in  this  age,  are  producing  just  such  a  science 
and  giving  it  propagation  in  all  the  intellectual 
centers  of  the  world.  Such  sources  will  cer- 
tainly send  forth  poisoning  streams  that  must 
be  counteracted  if  the  human  mind  shall  be 
kept  free  for  the  thinking  of  the  higher  and 
deeper  thoughts  with  which  religion  is  con- 
cerned. The  world's  science  is  essential  to  the 
world's  progress,  but  genuine  human  progress 
cannot  be  measured  simply  by  materialistic 
achievements.  Man  is  too  great  in  spiritual 
endowment  to  be  compassed  by  materialistic 
science. 

Christianity  has  not  only  fostered  science 
in  the  Occident;  it  has  been  its  pathmaker  in 
the  Orient.  The  two  are  the  most  powerful 
influences  at  work  in  the  world  to-day.  Both 
are  steadily  making  for  a  new  \aew  of  life  and 


84     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

its  forces,  and  are  leading  to  the  complete  over- 
throw of  the  conceptions  of  nature  upon  which 
religious  belief  has  been  sustained.  Any- 
Christian  propaganda  which  fails  to  take  cog- 
nizance of  the  force  of  science  either  to  de- 
stroy or  to  construct  and  support  religious 
faith  is  blind  and  will  find  the  ditch.  Chris- 
tianization  of  the  world  can  be  accomplished 
only  by  the  Christianization  of  the  forces  that 
make  the  world  and  of  these  none  ranks  higher 
than  Science.  Science  is  not  merely  the  body 
of  systematized  facts  concerning  nature;  it  is 
a  philosophy  of  nature.  Facts  must  be  inter- 
preted in  order  to  eventuate  in  real  knowledge. 
It  is  the  interpretation  with  which  Christianity 
is  concerned,  because  in  it  are  the  issues  of  life. 
The  metaphysics  behind  science  furnish  the 
bases  of  its  explanations  and  interpretations, 
and  make  possible  the  Christian  and  spiritual, 
or  the  agnostic  and  materialistic  views  of  life, 
its  source  and  destiny.  It  has  not  been  the 
affirmations  of  science  but  the  metaphysical 
implications  that  have  been  antagonistic  to 
religion.  No  body  of  scientific  facts  can  truly 
be  said  to  be  detrimental  to  religious  faith,  but 
scientific  theories  which  frequently  have  been 
deduced  from  those  facts,  have  been  made  to 
carry  a  philosophy  that  has  been  adjudged 


RECONSTRUCTING  MAN'S  THINKING      85 

hostile  to  the  teachings,  if  not  the  very  spirit 
of  Christianity.  It  is  this  hostile  philosophy 
which  is  impeding  Christianity  in  its  efforts 
to  build  up  an  adequate  religious  faith  for 
humanity. 

The  man  of  science  deals  with  phenomena 
but  he  requires  an  ultimate  reality,  a  primal 
cause  and  a  rational  system  of  principles  by 
which  to  make  competent  deductions.  He  may 
dissolve  atoms  into  electrons  but  these  points 
of  energy  require  of  the  thinking  mind  ade- 
quate explanations.  As  the  biologist  scruti- 
nizes the  movements  of  life,  whether  in  the 
lowest,  the  highest,  or  the  intervening  forms, 
he  is  face  to  face  with  questionings  as  to  the 
beginnings  and  endings,  as  to  purpose  and  des- 
tiny. The  geologist  reads  marvelous  history 
in  the  crust  of  the  earth,  and  he  projects  him- 
self back  through  the  centuries  and  the  cycles 
and  asks,  "Who  or  what  did  this?  When? 
How?"  The  scientist  cannot  content  himself 
with  answering  *'What  is?"  He  must  ask 
"How  came  it?"  and  not  infrequently  "Why 
came  it?"  Answers  to  these  questions  are  not 
made  by  nature  itself  but  by  the  inquiring 
human  mind.  Charles  Darwin  answered  with 
his  "Origin  of  the  Species"  and  the  "Descent 
of  Man,"  and  Haeckel  with  his  "Riddle  of  the 


86     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

Universe."  In  these  volumes  they  showed 
their  power  to  acquire  facts,  but  their  utter 
inability  to  interpret  them.  Louis  Agassiz  and 
James  D.  Dana  and  Joseph  Le  Conte  an- 
swered with  a  God-made  world  after  the  man- 
ner revealed  by  their  geology.  The  nature 
of  the  ultimate  reality  cannot  be  determined 
by  science  or  scientific  method  because  that 
reality  carries  in  itself  attributes  which  evince 
personality,  a  force  self-determining  and  self- 
conscious,  in  a  realm  beyond  science.  The  sci- 
entist must  have  a  philosophy  as  well  as  a  sci- 
ence, and  in  his  philosophy,  by  which  he  ex- 
plains the  forces  and  principles  underlying  his 
science,  he  is  on  a  plane  with  other  thinkers 
and  must  take  cognizance  of  all  the  interests 
and  principles  involved  in  the  human  effort 
to  know  the  nature  of  the  One  Ultimate  Real- 
ity and  to  come  into  proper  relations  to  the 
final  Being.  Upon  the  plane  of  this  philoso- 
phy men  meet  to  find  together  their  common, 
fit,  and  legitimate  attitude  to  the  Great  Crea- 
tive Being. 

The  conflict  between  scientists  and  religion- 
ists arose  in  the  unwillingness  of  each  to  give 
proper  recognition  to  the  other  on  the  plane 
of  philosophical  generalization  and  determina- 
tion.    Science  was  long  weak  and  hesitating 


RECONSTRUCTING  MAN'S  THINKING      87 

and  was  held  in  subjection  to  religious  author- 
ity. The  Christian  Church  for  centuries  was 
highly  unfrier:^ly  to  any  claims  of  science 
which  in  any  way  controverted  its  interpreta- 
tions of  any  parts  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  or 
any  of  its  doctrines  formulated  from  these  in- 
terpretations in  a  different  scientific  atmos- 
phere. Copernicus  and  Galileo  were  severely 
dealt  with  by  the  Church  when  they  announced 
their  great  scientific  discoveries,  based  upon 
well-determined  facts,  and  now  universally  ac- 
cepted. The  evolutionists  were  fiercely  at- 
tacked in  the  early  years  and  their  teachings 
were  grossly  ridiculed,  stubbornly  resisted,  and 
violently  fought  as  monstrous  perversions  of 
inspired  Scriptures.  To  be  sure,  the  early  evo- 
lutionary theories  were  far  different  from  those 
of  to-day,  for  in  the  course  of  fifty  years  the- 
ories of  evolution  have  been  greatly  if  not  rad- 
ically modified.  A  marked  change  has  also 
taken  place  in  the  attitude  of  religionists  and 
churchmen  toward  the  evolutionary  philoso- 
phy. These  modifications  have  been  brought 
about  on  the  one  hand  by  scientists  who  were 
religionists,  and  on  the  other  by  religionists 
who  were  scientists.  Truth  can  but  harmonize 
with  truth  whatever  the  realms  in  which  it 
may  be  found,  and  truth-seekers  and  truth- 


88     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

finders  are  well  expected  to  make  common 
cause.  Unquestionably  what  there  is  of  an- 
tagonism in  the  attitude  of  science  toward  re- 
ligion in  this  day  is  due  in  no  small  way  to 
the  attitude  which  a  scholastic  ecclesiasticism 
assumed  in  the  days  of  the  infancy  of  science 
and  maintained  through  centuries.  Science  has 
become  strong,  virile,  and  confident,  and  still 
holds  in  vivid  memory  the  onslaughts  of  the 
earlier  unreasoning,  self-sufficient  and  domi- 
nating ecclesiasticism,  and  has  no  incentive  to 
make  common  cause  with  an  old  foe  that  has 
not  yet  fully  demonstrated  its  change  of  heart. 
This  accounts  in  no  small  way  for  the  con- 
temptuous attitude  of  many  scientists  towards 
religion  and  its  proponents  and  the  confusion 
in  scientific  circles  regarding  the  greater  reali- 
ties lying  back  of  all  their  marvelous  holdings. 
Just  so  far  as  medieval  ecclesiasticism  survives 
and  is  dominant,  science  is  in  antagonism  with 
it  and  must  continue  to  be.  Science  is  the 
champion  of  the  free  human  spirit  in  its  search 
for  truth,  and  is  therefore  hostile  to  the  tyr- 
anny of  superstition,  of  obscurantism  and  des- 
potic ecclesiasticism. 

That  there  is  any  necessary  conflict  between 
reasonable  science  and  reasonable  religion  can 
scarcely  be  held  in  this  day  by  fair-minded 


RECONSTRUCTING  MAN'S  THINKING     89 

thinkers.  Europe  and  America  have  produced 
many  men  of  the  highest  scientific  attainments 
who  were  and  are  devout  defenders  and  faith- 
ful behevers  in  the  Christ  religion. 

"And  science  came  with  humble   feet 
To  seek  the  God  that  faith  had  found." 

The  trouble  has  been  and  is  with  the  offenders 
against  reason  on  both  sides  who  decline  to 
be  reconciled  to  the  opposing  party.  This  can 
be  removed  only  by  an  adequate  acquaintance 
with  science  by  the  one  and  a  full  knowledge 
of  true  religion  by  the  other.  The  hope  of 
harmony,  cooperation  and  allied  service  to  the 
world  must  come  with  that  company  of  intel- 
ligently Christian  men  who  devote  themselves 
to  the  advancement  of  science.  The  conflict 
is  not  so  much  between  science  and  religion 
as  between  a  certain  class  of  scientists  and  a 
certain  school  of  theologians.  A  self-centered, 
self-righteous,  imperialistic  ecclesiasticism  and 
an  agnostic,  self-sufficient  science  cannot  be 
other  than  bitter  foes  to  each  other  and  at 
the  same  time  merciless  enemies  to  the  highest 
interests  of  the  race.  If  the  world  is  to  be 
made  Christian  in  spirit  and  knowledge,  these 
must  be  supplanted  by  exponents  of  a  Chris- 
tian science  and  a  scientific  Christianity.    The 


90     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIA 

one  is  just  as  essential  as  the  other.  The  pro- 
mulgators of  an  agnostic  if  not  an  atheistic 
science  and  the  promoters  of  an  ill-founded 
interpretation  of  Christianity,  its  principles, 
its  purposes  and  its  power,  are  sowing  dragon's 
teeth  in  the  wide  fields  of  humanity  which 
eventually  will  spring  forth  to  wound  and  de- 
stroy the  sons  of  men.  The  non-scientific  and 
non-Christian  world  is  being  made  the  victim 
of  this  rashness.  "The  last  state  of  that  man  is 
worse  than  the  first."  This  can  be  remedied 
only  by  a  new  declaration  of  the  fundamentals 
of  Christianity,  a  new  interpretation  of  life 
in  keeping  with  those  principles,  and  a  new 
pronouncement  of  science  recognizing  the  right 
and  reasonableness  of  the  Christian  revelation, 
of  the  nature  of  the  Ultimate  Reality,  the  char- 
acter of  the  Creative  Being,  and  allowing  a 
place  for  the  activities  of  a  Supreme  Person- 
ality in  the  world. 

Christianity  is  compelled  to  recognize  that 
in  its  efforts  at  world  reconstruction  to-day 
it  is  confronted  with  powerful,  hostile  rivals, 
superbly  equipped  and  of  massive  strength, 
which  did  not  actually  exist  in  the  early  days 
of  missionary  endeavor.  These  have  grown 
up  in  its  own  household  and  have  been  nour- 
ished by  its  own  life.     The  university  with 


RECONSTRUCTING  MAN'S  THINKING      91 

its  intellectual  aristocracy  is  a  new  force  in 
world  relations  and  is  fast  becoming  planet- 
wide  in  extent  as  well  as  in  influence.  It  has 
built  broad  and  well-supported  approaches  to 
the  few  chosen  high  and  controlling  minds 
among  all  peoples.  For  hostility  to  exist  be- 
tween great  centers  of  learning  and  the  great- 
est agent  for  human  redemption  is  to  bring 
eternal  disaster  upon  mankind.  The  course 
of  action  seems  fairly  clear.  The  university 
must  be  made  an  outstanding  objective  in 
world  Christianization  and  a  faithful  ally  as 
well.  If  Christianitj^  is  the  proper  and  ade- 
quate religion  for  the  peoples  now  denomi- 
nated non-Christian,  it  should  be  made  such 
for  the  great  centers  of  knowledge  in  Europe 
and  America  from  which  the  highest  intellect- 
ual influences  are  going  forth.  It  is  a  false 
conception  that  missionary  effort  is  simply  to 
fulfill  an  imperative  obligation  to  the  utterly 
ignorant,  debased  and  helpless  heathen  world. 
It  is  that  to  be  sure,  but  vastly  more.  The 
purpose  of  Christian  missions  is  to  command 
the  forces  that  make  the  world  and  its  con- 
ditions. It  is  not  to  weakness  alone  that  Chris- 
tianity goes  but  strength  and  force  and  po- 
tentiality. These  Christianity  must  command, 
control,  guide  and  direct  if  the  world  moves 


92     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

to  its  legitimate  goal  as  set  forth  in  the  lofty 
purpose  of  creation,  interpreted  by  Jesus 
Christ.  Christian  missions  is  not  a  mere  mat- 
ter of  equatorial  Africa,  Central  and  Eastern 
Asia  and  all  backward  lands.  The  motives  in 
missions  originate  not  in  the  destitutions  of 
man  but  in  the  sublime  revelation  of  the  ex- 
alted opportunity  of  the  human  race  to  attain 
unto  divine  conceptions  and  relations  through 
Jesus  Christ.  The  avenues  by  which  Christ 
can  best  be  made  known  to  mankind,  Chris- 
tianity must  possess  and  hold. 

The  great  forces  of  the  university  should 
be  aligned  with  the  highest  agencies  of  the 
Christian  propaganda.  It  can  scarcely  be  ex- 
pected that  this  will  be  done  upon  the  initiative 
of  the  university.  It  must  come  from  the 
Christian  Church.  To  be  sure,  it  is  frequently 
contended  that  the  Church  cannot  foster  and 
maintain  universities,  since  the  universities 
must  be  allowed  their  fundamental  rights  of 
freedom  in  teaching  and  freedom  in  investiga- 
tion and  learning,  and  the  Church  cannot  grant 
such  freedom.  Why  should  the  Church  be 
averse  to  such  freedom  if  the  university  is 
made  honest  in  dealing  with  Christianity? 
Those  who  have  most  boisterously  demanded 
this  freedom  have  been  the  worst  offenders  in 


RECONSTRUCTING  MAN'S  THINKING      93 

denying  to  Christianity  a  fair  and  adequate 
presentation  from  the  lecturer's  desk.  These 
traducers  who  have  never  even  matriculated 
in  the  school  of  the  Galilean  Master  always 
present  Christianity  in  a  false  light  or  dis- 
miss it  with  a  sneer.  They  confuse  Christian- 
ity with  sordid  traditionalism,  stubborn  scho- 
lasticism, unmitigated  medievalism  and  tyran- 
nical ecclesiasticism,  and  shut  up  their  minds 
against  the  interpretations  of  Christianity 
made  by  their  own  contemporaries.  Such  ar- 
rogant ignorance  has  as  often  marked  the  col- 
lege professor  in  his  defamation  of  religion 
as  it  has  the  churchman  in  his  denunciation 
of  scientific  theories.  Christianity  asks  only 
for  fair  treatment  at  the  hands  of  those  who 
claim  the  scientific  spirit  and  the  scholar's  view- 
point. It  feels  no  antagonism  towards  real 
knowledge  or  the  quest  therefor.  It  entertains 
the  most  profound  regard  for  great  learning 
and  its  application  to  the  deepest  interests  of 
the  race.  It  recognizes  the  fact  that  Christian- 
ity without  scholarship  is  weak  and  fanatical, 
and  scholarship  without  Christianity  is  dead 
and  deadening.  The  two  must  be  combined. 
The  world  can  never  be  saved  by  scholarship 
and  it  can  never  be  made  truly  Christian  with- 
out it.     Christian  scholarship  is  the  one  thing 


94      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

essential  to  the  illumination  of  the  new  world 
mind  now  in  process  of  construction.  The 
failure  of  Christianity  to  produce  such  scholar- 
ship, such  learning,  can  result  only  in  disaster 
to  the  movement  now  on  to  make  the  world 
Christian. 

The  Christian  Church  cannot  escape  the  re- 
sponsibility of  not  only  fostering  but  also  of 
creating  great  universities  as  its  missionary 
obligation.  It  must  even  go  further  and  set 
as  a  missionary  goal  the  thorough  Christianiza- 
tion  of  the  great  centers  of  learning  now  in 
existence  and  sending  forth  immense  currents 
of  thought.  This  is  by  no  means  outside  of 
the  range  of  possibility.  This  does  not  mean 
and  can  never  mean  ecclesiastical  domination. 
It  means  Christ-control,  Christ-direction,  and 
Christ-reenforceftient  in  the  spirit,  purpose 
and  supreme  objectives  of  the  institution. 
With  such  institutions  of  the  highest  attain- 
ments in  scholarship  and  broadest  sweep  in 
scientific  investigation  and  philosophical  gen- 
eralization, Christianity  would  be  furnished 
with  mighty  and  adequate  agencies  for  the 
construction  and  reconstruction  of  human 
thought  and  its  resultant  civilization.  To  be 
satisfied  with  anything  less  is  to  court  ultimate 
failure  in  the  final  consummation  of  the  com- 


RECONSTRUCTING  MAN'S  THINKING      95 

plete  progress  of  Christianity.  That  the  task 
is  monstrously  difficult  and  seemingly  fraught 
with  the  impossible  will  be  readily  admitted, 
but  it  lies  athwart  the  way  of  ultimate  success 
and  must  be  undertaken  and  carried  forward 
with  power,  wisdom,  courage  and  confidence. 
From  it  there  is  no  escape. 

Christian  missions  have  come  to  the  day 
when  they  must  think  in  the  large  as  regards 
agencies  as  well  as  fields  and  goals.  Some  men 
are  fond  of  quoting  Paul:  "God  has  chosen  the 
weak  things  to  confound  the  things  that  are 
mighty."  That  translation  may  carry  an  erro- 
neous view.  The  better  translation  is,  "God 
has  chosen  the  things  which  the  world  regards 
as  destitute  of  influence  in  order  to  put  its 
powerful  things  to  shame."  It  takes  force 
to  meet  force,  and  energy  in  proportion  to 
the  lift.  God  works  on  that  principle  and 
man  dares  not  neglect  it.  With  half  the  world 
illiterate  and  the  masses  of  humanity  utterly 
abashed  and  confounded  before  the  forces  of 
nature,  driven  to  the  creation  of  gods  to  satisfy 
and  support  their  ignorance,  something  majes- 
tically great  and  comprehensive  must  be  enter- 
prised.  With  more  than  half  of  those  who  are 
only  semi-literate  absolutely  without  compe- 
tent conceptions  of  the  real  meaning  of  things, 


96     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

man  or  God,  there  is  no  place  for  a  program 
of  weakness  and  hopeful  passiveness.  With 
great  centers  of  learning  emitting  clouds  of 
doubt  and  muddy  streams  of  entangled 
thought,  there  is  a  clear  challenge  to  an  ex- 
hibition of  power,  comprehension  and  divine 
energy.  Little  plans  were  quite  sufficient  for 
the  days  of  talking  like  a  child,  thinking  like 
a  child,  and  arguing  like  a  child,  but  in  full 
manhood's  maturity  one  should  be  done  with 
childish  ways.  The  statesman  in  planning,  the 
general  in  mobilizing  forces,  the  master-builder 
in  laying  foundations  are  now  in  demand  at 
the  front  in  the  new  Christian  movement  for 
world  salvation  and  direction.  Agencies  equal 
to  the  gigantic  task  must  be  discovered,  cre- 
ated or  commandeered.  The  missionary  proj- 
ect grows  greater  as  the  scope  of  its  task  be- 
comes more  clearly  defined.  If  there  were  no 
object  beyond  the  conversion  of  a  few  souls 
to  the  Christian  faith  in  order  to  insure  their 
safe  delivery  to  the  heavenly  world,  the  bur- 
den would  not  be  increased  by  the  changing 
conditions  of  the  human  family;  it  would  be 
simply  the  matter  of  reaching  those  individ- 
uals. But  the  Church  to-day  cannot  be  con- 
tent with  such  a  conception  of  its  full  duty. 
The  world  task  is  world  construction  and  re- 


RECONSTRUCTING  MAN'S  THINKING     97 

construction  to  meet  the  requirements  of 
Christ's  principles,  ideals  and  passions.  The 
thought,  religion,  social  relations,  purposes  and 
aspirations  of  the  entire  race  are  to  be  brought 
into  Christ's  domain  and  be  made  to  bear  his 
spirit  and  fit  into  his  plan  for  mankind.  With 
such  a  scope  the  task  of  missions  becomes  ap- 
palling unless  influences  of  like  sweep  and 
agencies  of  like  scale  can  be  put  into  operation. 
The  Church  must  set  itself  resolutely  to  pro- 
vide these  agencies  and  bind  them  irrevocably 
to  the  work  to  be  done. 

Education  is  unquestionably  the  most  deter- 
minative process  for  thought  reconstruction  as 
well  as  construction  and  is  therefore  the  feature 
of  primary  and  chief  concern  in  missionary 
propaganda.  There  must  be  great  institutions 
of  the  highest  merit  and  thoroughly  Christian 
in  the  strategic  centers  of  the  world's  peoples. 
The  world  needs  a  school  system  equal  to  the 
demands  of  the  world  intelligence,  wisely  con- 
structed and  rigidly  enforced,  until  intellectual 
destitution  is  entirely  obliterated.  Without 
adequate  educational  facilities,  there  can  be 
no  hope  of  world-wide  uplift.  That  the  people 
would  appreciate  and  embrace  the  advantages 
w^hich  educational  institutions  would  insure 
cannot  be  expected.     The  demand  for  educa- 


98     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

tion  and  the  thirst  for  knowledge  must  be  cre- 
ated.    It  is  this  which  constitutes   the   real 
problem  in  education.     The  society  in  which 
gross  illiteracy  exists  has  no  competent  answer 
to  the  question,  "Why  should  I  be  educated, 
why  should  I  know  things?"    Those  who  com- 
mand that  society  are  frequently  quite  content 
with  the  existing  state  because  usually  their 
interests  are  in  some  way  advanced  thereby. 
They  may  be  politicians,  or  traders,  or  em- 
ployers, or  priestly  ecclesiastics.    Illiteracy  be- 
fits best  their  selfish  purposes,  and  they  are 
not  merely  indifferent,  but  are  even  antagonis- 
tic to  movements  that  would  lift  the  people  to 
a  new  level  of  thought  and  living.     Common 
intelligence  will  equip  men  for  democracy ;  and 
an  intelligent  democracy  will  not  endure  an 
oligarchy.    Common  intelligence  lifts  the  pro- 
ducer and  the  laborer  to  a  position  of  com- 
petent judgment  and  he  will  not  tolerate  the 
deception  of  the  trader  or  the  oppression  of 
the  employer.    Common  intelhgence  gives  wis- 
dom to  the  worshiper  and  he  will  no  longer 
bow  to  an  image,  mutter  prayer  formulas  and 
submit  to  priestly  authority  over  soul  destiny. 
Wherever  there  is  oligarchy  in  government, 
oppression  in  industry,  and  priestcraft  in  re- 
ligion, gross  illiteracy  always  abounds,  whether 


RECONSTRUCTING  MAN'S  THINKING      99 

in  the  Orient,  southern  Asia,  the  Mediterra- 
nean littoral  or  Latin  America.  Which  is  the 
cause  and  which  is  the  effect?  Whatever  the 
answer  the  fact  remains  that  an  adequate  school 
system  for  all  mankind  cannot  be  constructed 
and  sent  in,  but  it  must  grow  out  of  the  people's 
consciousness  of  their  own  need  and  be  adapted 
to  that  need.  The  question  then  arises,  How 
can  the  consciousness  of  the  people  be  awak- 
ened and  aroused  to  its  need?  What  will  de- 
termine the  character  of  that  need?  This  pre- 
education  stimulus  must  find  its  sources  out- 
side what  the  people  now  have  or  have  ever 
had  and  be  sustained  by  motives  born  of  ex- 
alted purpose. 

IV 

The  impact  of  Christian  civilization  has 
awakened  educational  interests  in  proportion 
to  its  force.  Central  Asia,  Middle  Africa,  the 
vast  islands  of  the  sea  where  Christian  civiliza- 
tion has  been  little  felt  show  small  sign  of 
any  educational  aspirations.  The  people  of  the 
Near  East  have  sat  passive  under  the  deaden- 
ing blight  of  Mohammedanism.  Japan  has 
taken  over  bodily  all  that  Christian  civilization 
has  had  to  offer.  What  it  could  not  adopt,  it 
adapted,  including  not  only  the  habiliments  of 


100     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

peace,  but  also  the  implements  of  war.  The 
country  is  small,  the  population  compact,  the 
government  highly  centralized  and  any  impact 
could  be  readily  distributed  and  quickly  assim- 
ilated. Its  school  system  is  comprehensive, 
compulsory  educational  laws  are  in  force,  illit- 
eracy has  been  practically  wiped  out,  great  uni- 
versities have  been  established  and  are  marvel- 
ously  patronized,  and  splendid  institutions  of 
technology  have  been  provided  for  large  bodies 
of  earnest  students.  This  educational  devel- 
opment may  be  ascribed  to  the  outgrowth  of 
the  new  national  consciousness,  but  the  stim- 
ulus had  an  external  source.  That  which 
makes  Japan  great  to-day  is  what  it  received 
through  Christianity  and  the  products  of 
Christianity.  Its  school  system  was  the  crea- 
tion of  a  Christian  missionary.  There  is  no 
modern  mission  that  owes  more  to  Christianity 
than  Japan,  the  little  giant  nation  of  the  entire 
East.  The  pity  of  it  is  that  the  Japanese  are 
not  ready  and  willing  to  make  this  acknowl- 
edgment, to  go  farther  and  accept  Christianity 
as  their  religion,  national  and  personal.  The 
Christian  Church  should  press  constantly  for 
this  decision.  China  has  not  received  such  an 
impact  nor  come  to  such  an  awakening.  Its 
territory  is  immense  and  its  population  prodi- 


RECONSTRUCTING  MAN'S  THINKING    101 

gious.  For  centuries  it  has  been  sufficient  unto 
itself.  The  impact  of  the  outside  world  was 
vigorously  withstood  until  within  the  last  quar- 
ter of  a  century.  The  Christian  nations  forced 
open  its  ports  and  compelled  the  establishment 
of  relations  with  the  country.  The  Christian 
missionary  has  given  freely  of  his  sacrificial 
life  and  has  mediated  unto  the  people  some 
benefits  of  the  Christian  civilization.  But 
China  has  as  yet  built  meagerly  a  school  sys- 
tem and  educational  institutions,  although  it 
has  done  so  in  proportion  to  the  assimilation 
of  the  impact  of  Christianity  and  Christian 
civilization.  India  has  never  felt  any  religious 
impact  from  the  EngHsh  government.  This  is 
in  keeping  with  the  British  policy.  Because  of 
this,  one  is  inclined  to  believe,  there  has  never 
been  any  real  demand  in  India  for  universal 
education.  To-day  there  are  on  in  that  land 
the  most  remarkable  mass  movements  towards 
Christianity.  In  no  country  has  there  ever 
been  such  a  tidal  wave  of  the  common  people 
toward  Christianity.  The  movement  is  creat- 
ing in  the  people  an  almost  unreliable  demand 
for  education.  They  want  now  to  read,  to 
read  the  Bible,  and  to  read  of  the  world  from 
which  the  Christians  have  come.  Why  is  it 
that  only  now  they  want  to  read?     In  the 


102     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

Levant  and  in  all  other  parts  of  the  world 
it  is  just  as  true  that  the  impact  of  modern 
evangelical  Christianity  produces  this  educa- 
tional reaction  and  in  proportion  to  that  im- 
pact. The  quality  of  the  education  sought  is 
largely  if  not  entirely  determined  by  the  direct- 
ness and  force  of  the  genuinely  Christian  in- 
fluence felt. 

The  world  is  being  awakened  to  its  educa- 
tional needs  not  only  by  the  impact  of  Chris- 
tian civilization,  the  product  of  Christian  teach- 
ing and  living,  but  also  as  the  direct  result 
of  the  very  seed  of  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ 
which  has  been  widely  sown  in  the  earth,  and 
which  has  in  many  places  come  to  a  glorious 
harvest.  Missionaries  of  Christ  are  uniformly 
educators  of  the  people.  This  may  not  always 
be  true  of  simply  missionaries  of  a  church. 
The  seed  of  the  gospel  is  a  life  germ  and 
quickens  the  very  soil  into  which  it  goes.  The 
influence  of  the  gospel  in  this  new  formative 
period  has  already  become  stupendous.  With 
twenty-five  thousand  missionaries  on  the  field 
and  eighty-six  institutions  of  higher  learning, 
five  hundred  twenty-two  normal  school  and 
training  classes,  one  thousand  seven  hundred 
boarding  and  high  schools,  two  hundred  ninety 
industrial  training  schools,  thirty  thousand  ele- 


RECONSTRUCTING  MAN'S  THINKING    103 

mentary  and  village  schools  in  operation  the 
work  of  education  may  be  said  to  be  going  for- 
ward. It  is  not  so  much  the  actual  literary 
instruction  in  these  institutions  which  is  most 
significant;  it  is  the  power  of  the  great  ideals 
which  they  generate  that  is  tearing  open  new 
channels  for  the  mental  life  of  the  world. 
They  release  the  intellectual  energies  of  young 
leaders  and  inspire  them  to  the  reconstruction 
of  the  thought  of  their  people.  They  are  pro- 
ducing an  intellectual  ferment  in  the  staid 
mentalities  of  the  "cabined  and  confined"  souls, 
and  this  will  eventuate  in  the  explosion  of  old 
conceptions  and  the  clearing  away  of  a  mass 
of  dumped  debris  of  the  centuries.  The 
achievements  in  education  in  one  century  of 
evangelical  missions  have  been  truly  phenom- 
enal. They  are  but  the  index  to  what  can  be 
possible  with  agencies  commensurate  with  the 
task. 

The  Christian  missionary  keeps  before  him 
constantly  the  great  objective  in  Christian  ed- 
ucation, which  is  the  awakening,  energizing,  de- 
velopment and  equipment  of  personality. 
That  is  the  sphere  of  Christian  creation  and 
salvation.  The  materialistic  educator,  whether 
agnostic,  atheist  or  religiously  indifferent, 
focuses  his  energies  on  things  to  be  known; 


104.     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

the  Christian  educator  upon  persons  to  be 
evolved  and  brought  to  mastery  in  the  world 
of  power.  The  awakening  of  personality  to 
the  consciousness  of  its  own  powers,  capabil- 
ities and  purposes  is  primary  with  the  Christian 
teacher,  and  he  draws  on  all  resources  for  the 
achievement  of  this  end.  The  quality  of  the 
human  mind  is  immeasurably  elevated  when 
the  purpose  of  knowledge  is  shown  to  be  the 
production  of  individuality.  Pagan  teachers 
are  not  all  confined  to  non- Christian  lands. 
What  else  are  those  who  erect  the  idols  of 
science,  philosophy,  and  classical  lore,  worship 
before  them,  and  leave  their  students  to  get 
their  uplift  by  witnessing  that  worship?  The 
Christian  teacher  teaches  persons  as  well  as 
Subjects.  His  religion  has  put  man  in  the 
foreground  of  his  thought  and  his  responsibil- 
ity. The  object  of  all  revelation,  whether  by 
creation  or  inspiration,  is  the  edification  and 
salvation  of  man,  the  individual,  the  person- 
ality, the  being  capable  of  power  and  the  exer- 
cise of  dominion  over  the  material  world.  The 
Christian  missionary  has  gone  forth  to  exalt 
personality  in  the  world  and  he  has  done  it,  and 
because  of  that  fact  he  has  made  way  and  pro- 
vided means  for  the  largest  progress  of  man- 
kind.   The  religion  which  he  promulgates  and 


RECONSTRUCTING  MAN'S  THINKING    105 

promotes  keeps  personality  at  the  center, 
whether  in  private  hfe  or  public  society,  in  the 
school  room  or  the  sanctuary. 

The  Christian's  philosophy  of  the  world  in 
which  he  lives  is  an  outgrowth  of  the  emphasis 
on  personality  which  the  Christian  religion  re- 
quires. He  lives  in  a  personal  world.  A  self- 
conscious,  self -determining,  knowing  Being 
was  the  infinite  cause  and  responsible  agent  in 
creation  and  is  the  power  by  which  all  things 
move  to  their  appointed  ends.  The  universe 
is  the  manifestation  of  his  will,  his  thought,  his 
purpose  and  finds  explanation  in  his  poten- 
tialities. The  Infinite  Cause  being  intelligent, 
moral  and  personal  and  in  complete  control, 
there  can  be  no  hazardous  chance  or  imper- 
sonal concatenation  of  forces  operating  loosely 
in  the  world  to  the  possible  final  peril  of  man 
and  creation.  Nature  is  not  some  extraneous 
unrelated  force,  but  the  method  in  which  mani- 
festations of  energy  are  made.  The  character 
of  the  final  energy  is  determined  by  its  source. 
There  is  a  ''far  off  divine  event  to  which  the 
whole  creation  moves,"  because  the  force  in 
the  movement  is  the  Personal  Power  that  in- 
augurated the  creation.  With  Supreme  Rea- 
son and  Supreme  Righteousness,  coupled  with 
Supreme  Power,  in  the  ongoing  of  all  things, 


106     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

the  world  is  in  a  legitimate  way  to  consummate 
its  original  divine  goal.  God  is  concerned  with 
the  problems  of  this  world  because  they  are 
His,  as  well  as  man's,  and  he  has  pledged  his 
powers  for  their  solution.  He  who  believes 
that  God  created  the  world  and  then  went 
away  is  the  most  deceived  of  men.  God  rules 
the  world  by  acting  in  it  and  through  it  and 
not  by  imposing  His  authority  upon  it.  The 
Divine  Personality  is  immanent  in  man's 
world. 

An  educational  system  built  upon  such  a 
philosophy  and  carried  forward  with  the  pur- 
pose of  lifting  human  personality  to  the  high- 
est possible  power  cannot  fail  to  revolutionize 
the  thought  of  a  people  given  over  to  animism, 
pantheism,  fatalism  and  aspirations  for  Nir- 
vana. The  introduction  of  a  clear-cut  con- 
ception of  a  personal  God,  intelligent,  ethical, 
with  unity,  self-consciousness,  self-control  and 
self-direction  to  the  thinking  of  the  Orient 
would  dispel  the  appalling  haze  and  set  the 
sun  in  its  bewildering  sky.  The  Orient  is 
wanting  in  the  sense  of  personality,  whether  in 
the  infinite  or  finite.  The  identification  of  na- 
ture with  spirit  forces  is  due  to  a  lack  of  com- 
prehension of  what  nature  is  and  what  spirit  is. 
To  explain  nature  even  by  the  most  complete 


RECONSTRUCTING  MAN'S  THINKING    107 

science  and  fail  to  explain  spirit  by  just  as 
complete  and  well-founded  philosophy  will 
leave  confusion  worse  confounded  and  turn  the 
mind  to  inevitable  agnosticism.  Destroying 
man's  false  conceptions  of  nature  or  of  spirits 
is  not  a  complete  objective,  and  standing  alone, 
a  very  doubtful  end  in  itself.  What  man 
needs  is  such  a  philosophy  of  the  world  and 
the  sentient  forces  that  act  upon  it  that  nature 
slips  normally  into  its  own  place,  the  creatures 
of  imagination  pass  with  the  hfted  fog  of  in- 
comprehension, and  personal  powers  are  en- 
throned in  all  dominions.  Man  in  the  ill- 
illumined  world  needs  the  light  of  science,  to 
be  sure,  but  more  he  needs  an  interpretation 
of  the  material  world  and  a  philosophy  of 
human  life  and  destiny  in  keeping  with 
his  demonstrated  worth  and  highest  aspira- 
tions. The  Christian  education  purports  to 
give  this  interpretation,  and  in  conformity 
with  it  to  reconstruct  the  thought  of  the  mind- 
enthralled  peoples.  Personality  is  the  key 
principle  by  which  Christianity  hopes  to  un- 
lock the  minds  of  the  race.  Whether  in  sci- 
ence, philosophy,  government,  society  or  re- 
ligion, personality  is  the  active  principle  and 
determines  the  state  and  progress  of  all.  A 
less  objective  than  the  full  development  of  this 


108      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

supreme  and  controlling  factor  in  world  life 
and  thought,  education  can  not  afford  to  set 
and  faithfully  endeavor  to  achieve. 

The  missionary  in  the  new  era  must  be  a 
philosopher;  that  is,  be  able  to  propose,  ex- 
pound and  sustain  a  philosophy  of  the  world 
in  harmony  with  the  spiritual  view  of  things 
which  Jesus  revealed  and  always  maintained. 
He  opened  new  channels  of  religious  thinking 
because  he  created  new  conceptions  of  God 
and  the  world  in  which  man  lived.  Paul,  in 
the  spirit  of  the  teachings  of  Jesus,  dealt  with 
Greek  philosophy  as  a  master  because  his  view 
of  the  entities  which  the  philosophers  treated 
made  their  teachings  vain.  The  day  came, 
however,  when  this  same  Hellenism  was  trans- 
formed under  the  influence  of  the  gospel  and 
became  directive  in  theological  thought.  Hu- 
man philosophy  is  the  natural  product  of  the 
developed  human  mind  in  its  reaction  to  the 
world  in  which  it  exists,  and  it  cannot  be  sup- 
pressed. Man  will  think,  and  his  systematized 
thought  becomes  his  philosophy.  The  nature 
of  that  philosophy  is  determined  by  the  mat- 
ter and  manner  of  his  thinking.  The  logic  may 
be  good  and  the  conclusion  false,  because  the 
premises  from  which  the  thinking  began  are 
without  proper  foundations.     The  particular 


RECONSTRUCTING  MAN'S  THINKING    109 

may  be  taken  for  the  universal  and  the  entire 
fabric  of  thought  fall  as  a  consequence.  This 
is  exactly  the  case  in  the  non-Christian 
and  semi-Christian  world.  The  conclusions 
reached  and  fashioned  into  principles  have  a 
false  or  inadequate  foundation.  The  material 
world  has  been  only  partially  known,  and  yet 
a  comprehensive  philosophy  of  nature,  from 
which  has  come  the  philosophy  of  life  and  re- 
ligion, has  been  built  up.  Error  has  been  un- 
avoidable. Nature  has  been  interpreted  on 
too  limited  knowledge  and  the  human  life  has 
received  false  direction  by  this  improper  in- 
terpretation. The  only  hope  of  changing  the 
basis  of  life  is  in  the  full  knowledge  of  nature 
and  its  methods  and  a  reasonable  philosophy 
that  will  unify  and  interpret  all  the  facts  of 
nature  in  harmony  with  the  personal  principle 
which  Christianity  has  made  essential  to  crea- 
tion and  the  movement  of  the  universe.  The 
Christian  philosophy  of  the  material  world  is 
absolutely  necessary  to  the  thought  of  the  race 
becoming  Christian.  The  reconstruction  of 
the  human  mind  can  be  satisfactorily  achieved 
in  no  other  way. 

To  meet  the  philosophy  of  the  people  to  be 
Christianized,  the  missionary  must  be  ac- 
quainted with  the  field  of  philosophical  think- 


110     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

ing  and  thoroughly  settled  in  a  Christian  phi- 
losophy which  he  can  clearly  expound  and 
forcibly  maintain.  In  the  city  of  Montevideo, 
the  capital  of  the  most  progressive  of  the 
South  American  republics,  the  show  windows 
of  the  book  stores  are  filled  with  the  works  of 
Huxley,  Spencer,  Haeckel  and  Comte.  In 
South  Brazil  the  leaders  in  politics  and  educa- 
tion are  Positivists  in  philosophy,  religion  and 
the  principles  of  government.  In  both  places 
the  thought  leaders  are  enemies  of  the  dom- 
inant church  and  practically  agnostic  in  all 
thinking.  To  be  sure,  they  need  a  new  inter- 
pretation of  Christianity  far  superior  to  any 
they  have  had,  but  they  will  not  be  inclined  to 
accept  it  until  they  are  converted  to  a  new 
philosophy  built  upon  modern  scientific  facts 
and  principles.  This  condition  is  rapidly  de- 
veloping in  all  parts  of  the  world.  It  can  be 
met  only  by  an  interpretation  of  the  world 
which  is  convincing.  The  missionary  who  will 
be  equal  to  this  condition  must  be  intelligent 
in  science  and  philosophy.  Much  pseudo- 
philosophy  in  the  form  of  theosophy  and  oc- 
cult spirituahsm  has  arisen  in  many  sections 
among  people  who  have  some  intellectual  con- 
ceits but  limited  intellectual  equipment.  They 
can  be  made  free  only  by  teachers  who  can 


RECONSTRUCTING  MAN'S  THINKING    111 

turn  light  upon  their  immature  thinking.  This 
portion  of  the  people,  with  all  their  intellectual 
foibles  and  pretensions,  can  be  said  to  show  a 
certain  mental  awakening  and  to  be  in  the 
process  of  thought  reconstruction.  They  re- 
quire new  masters  for  the  steps  ahead.  The 
missionaries  who  cannot  show  thought  and 
comprehension  of  science  and  philosophy  equal 
to  theirs  will  necessarily  be  relegated  in  their 
labors  to  a  lower  intellectual  stratum  of  so- 
ciety. If  they  cannot  compete  in  thought 
with  mature  minds  they  must  seek  the  realm 
of  childhood  and  delayed  intelligence  as  their 
field  of  labor.  Unfortunately  this  field  is 
more  largely  occupied  than  the  upper,  and  all 
because  of  this  lack  of  equipment  in  science 
and  philosophy.  But  the  upper  must  be  pos- 
sessed if  civilization  is  to  be  transformed.  The 
strongholds  of  civilization  should  be  captured 
for  Christianity.  The  forces  for  this  achieve- 
ment must  be  found.  The  new  adventures  in 
missions  must  be  into  the  realm  of  the  masters 
of  society,  and  plans  for  placing  genuine  Chris- 
tianity with  its  philosophy  and  interpretation 
of  the  facts  of  the  world  strongly  before  these 
leaders  of  the  race  should  be  wisely  and  speed- 
ily projected. 

The  world  cannot  be  made  Christian  with- 


112     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

out  a  proper  interpretation  of  nature,  but  that 
interpretation  is  based  almost  entirely  upon 
the  conception  of  God.  Heathenism  and 
paganism  are  due  to  an  inadequate  conception 
of  God.  Pantheism  with  its  resultant  poly- 
theism came  out  of  the  haze  as  to  God  and  his 
relation  to  the  world.  God  that  explains  the 
universe,  with  man  its  greatest  fact,  makes 
paganism,  pantheism  and  the  entire  fabric  of 
demonology  utterly  baseless.  The  doctrine  of 
God  is  the  missionary's  chief  means  of  thought 
reconstruction  in  the  peoples  of  his  field.  It  is 
there  his  philosophy  of  the  world  begins  and 
there  it  will  end.  When  science  sweeps  away 
all  the  conceptions  of  nature  which  half  the 
people  of  the  earth  now  hold,  a  thing  it  will 
eventually  do,  the  doctrine  of  God  will  be  the 
bridge  over  which  the  mind  will  pass  to  the 
newly  discovered  mainland  of  abiding  truth. 
Theism  gives  to  science  and  religion  a  common 
source  and  justification,  and  offers  the  basis 
for  the  new  thought  life  of  mankind.  Without 
such  a  philosophy  as  theism  presents  and  main- 
tains, the  missionary  is  totally  at  sea  in  the 
presence  of  the  animism  of  the  unlettered,  the 
agnosticism  of  the  erudite,  the  fatalism  of  the 
Moslem  and  the  medievalism  of  the  ecclesias- 
tic.    Grounded  on  theism  with  its  attendant 


RECONSTRUCTING  MAN'S  THINKING    113 

philosophy  of  personalism,  the  missionary  is 
thoroughly  equipped  for  interpreting  to  men 
the  world  in  which  they  live  and  the  God  from 
whom  they  came  and  in  whom  they  live,  move 
and  have  their  being.  With  such  a  knowledge 
men  are  ready  to  lay  hold  on  life  and  lift  it  to 
the  fulfillment  of  the  divine  purpose. 

The  intellectual  atmosphere  of  the  mission- 
ary is  the  chief  element  in  his  or  her  recon- 
structive influence  in  the  community.  The 
missionary  is  expected  to  stand  for  something 
intellectually  and  be  capable  of  aiding  the  peo- 
ple to  think  in  new  channels  and  arrive  at  new 
points  of  view.  The  mind  that  quickens  mind 
and  that  starts  new  strains  of  thought  coursing 
through  the  system  is  a  battery  of  great  power 
in  society.  An  exhibition  of  intellectual 
strength  and  honesty  enlists  sympathy  and  es- 
tablishes confidence.  The  character  of  mind, 
the  breadth  of  its  knowledge,  the  integrity  of 
its  thinking,  the  force  of  its  thoughts,  mark 
the  possessor  and  measure  his  capacity  for  in- 
tellectual leadership.  The  mental  life  of  the 
missionary  must  show  growth  with  the  years 
to  meet  the  increased  expectations  and  require- 
ments. But  the  intellectual  equipment  for  de- 
livering a  true  philosophy  of  life  is  of  primary 
importance  in  the  work  of  reconstructing  and 


114     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

constructing  the  thought  of  the  human  race. 
The  preparation  of  missionaries,  whatever  else 
it  may  include,  should  have  as  its  objective  the 
making  of  men  and  women  intellectually  ca- 
pable of  taking  the  mental  bearings  of  the 
people  they  are  to  serve,  and  setting  the 
courses  by  which  they  may  find  themselves  in 
the  common  life  of  mankind.  They  are  to  lead 
men  to  think  forcibly,  honestly,  ethically,  the 
thoughts  of  God  in  their  application  to  society 
and  government.  They  are  to  quicken  into 
action  the  productive  powers  of  the  human  in- 
tellect which  under  the  lead  of  the  great  ideals 
and  principles  that  Christianity  sets  forth 
eventuate  in  a  new  human  creation.  There  is 
no  place  nor  justification  for  intellectual  flabbi- 
ness  in  the  missionary  of  the  new  era.  There 
is  a  challenge  to  the  highest  intellectual  endow- 
ment and  equipment  in  the  world's  acute  need 
of  intellectual  reconstruction. 


What  is  it  that  Christianity  must  do  in  the 
world  to  make  all  the  people  think  Christian? 
That  question  Christian  missionaries  cannot 
retire.    It  must  be  faced  now  and  kept  ever  in 


RECONSTRUCTING  MAN'S  THINKING    115 

the  foreground  of  all  necessary  endeavor.  The 
world  will  not  act  Christian  until  it  thinks 
Christian.  First,  it  must  be  realized  that  men- 
tal inertia  exists  in  a  vast  proportion  of  the 
human  family  and  that  it  must  be  overcome 
before  there  can  be  anything  worth  the  name. 
To  remove  the  inertia  and  enable  and  incite 
the  people  to  think  is  a  gigantic  task,  but 
Christianity  is  under  solemn  obligation  to  face 
it  as  its  task  and  face  it  with  a  force  sufficient 
to  its  mastery.  The  forces  of  Christianity  are 
equal  to  this  task  if  they  could  be  mobilized 
and  unified  for  a  common  deliverance  upon  the 
one  matter.  But  it  will  require  the  joint  ac- 
tion of  government,  commerce,  learning  and 
religion,  set  to  lift  humanity  out  of  the  fearful 
state  of  intellectual  destitution.  Such  joint 
action  is  not  only  a  possibility,  but  human 
conditions  make  it  a  human  and  a  Christian 
obligation.  The  time  has  come  when  Chris- 
tian missionary  propaganda  must  employ  all 
possible  influence  for  the  mobilization  of  all 
Christian  forces  for  the  preparation  of  the 
world  to  think,  and  to  think  Christian.  The 
removal  of  mental  inertia  and  the  stimulation 
of  half  the  world  to  aspirations  for  knowledge 
and  the  means  for  obtaining  it  are  of  primary 


116      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

consideration.  This  will  require  not  only  the 
establishment  of  many  educational  institutions, 
but  the  construction  and  inauguration  of  com- 
prehensive school  systems.  To  this  labor 
Christian  missionaries  may  well  give  sympathy 
and  strong  support  and  that  directive  influ- 
ence which  will  insure  open  avenues  for  the 
production  of  Christian  thinking. 

The  missionary  propaganda,  if  criticism  is 
permissible,  has  been  wanting  in  a  clear-cut 
educational  policy.  It  is  indeed  remarkable 
how  much  has  been  accomplished  in  the  for- 
eign fields  in  view  of  the  fearful  mental  in- 
ertia, the  meager  resources  placed  at  the  mis- 
sionary's command,  and  the  limited  training 
of  the  average  missionary  in  educational  mat- 
ters. But  there  has  been  no  educational  sys- 
tem and  httle  effort  at  coordination  in  what 
has  been  done  by  the  various  societies.  Even 
the  educational  institutions  projected  and 
maintained  by  the  same  organization  usually 
have  little  or  no  relation  to  each  other.  The 
time  has  come  when  leaders  in  the  missionary 
movement  must  think  in  terms  of  an  educa- 
tional system  with  standardized  courses  and 
coordinated  institutions.  Only  in  this  way  can 
the  several  countries  be  best  educationally 
served,  the  nucleus  and  example  for  a  national 


RECONSTRUCTING  MAN'S  THINKING    117 

system  be  created,  and  the  products  of  Chris- 
tian effort  be  conserved. 

On  many  fields  the  educational  forces 
greatly  need  reenforcement  from  the  Christian 
educational  leaders  in  the  highly  developed 
countries.  The  counsel  of  great  educational 
thinkers  and  administrators  in  the  United 
States  and  Great  Britain,  who  know  the  ob- 
jective of  the  missionary  movement  and  are 
in  sympathy  with  it,  is  needed  in  the  formula- 
tion of  policies  and  systems  which  the  mission- 
aries will  carry  out.  Such  Christian  educators 
of  comprehensive  thought  and  extended  ex- 
perience should  be  related  and  even  personally 
attached  to  the  movements  for  the  common 
education  of  the  people  and  that  higher  in- 
struction necessary  to  the  production  of 
leaders.  This  would  probably  necessitate  vis- 
its to  the  fields  by  these  educators  in  order  to 
obtain  a  very  intimate  and  comprehensive 
knowledge  of  conditions.  But  whatever  may 
be  the  requirement,  the  end  in  view  is  so  far- 
reaching  that  the  best  possible  intelligence 
should  be  enlisted  for  its  attainment. 

The  high  objective  in  the  missionary  propa- 
ganda of  reconstructing  the  thinking  of  the 
world  cannot  be  attained  without  great  centers 
of  learning  in  the  midst  of  the  people  to  be 


118      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

reached  which  sustain  the  atmosphere  and 
evince  the  control  of  the  Christ  spirit.  Leaders 
must  be  produced  for  all  realms  and  depart- 
ments of  social  and  national  life  who  can  think 
great  thoughts  and  will  think  constantly  Chris- 
tian. The  ultimate  aim  should  never  be  lost 
sight  of,  the  production  of  the  towering  Chris- 
tian leader  for  government,  for  business,  for 
scientific  and  philosophical  instruction  and  for 
definite  Christian  service.  Governments  can 
never  be  put  on  a  higher  basis  if  minds  are  not 
produced  imbued  with  great  ideas  and  ideals 
of  government.  Society  can  never  rise  to  a 
new  level  except  by  the  ability  and  spirit  of 
native  and  national  leaders  intellectually  keen 
and  masterful  and  thoroughly  acquainted  with 
the  progress  of  the  race.  Universities  that  are 
simply  aggregations  of  professional  and  voca- 
tional schools,  whose  courses  are  built  upon 
preliminary  work  in  secondary  institutions 
never  reaching  beyond  two  years  of  collegiate 
training,  and  seldom  going  that  far,  cannot 
meet  the  case.  Government  schools  have 
usually  as  their  chief  purpose  the  preparation 
of  governmental  employees  and  political  lead- 
ers. Such  universities  and  governmental 
schools  dominate  all  Latin  America.  As  a 
consequence  there  is  lacking  the  high  mental 


RECONSTRUCTING  MAN'S  THINKING    119 

development  of  a  great  citizenship  for  a  genu- 
ine democracy;  and  genuine  democracy 
does  not  exist,  but  rather  an  oligarchy.  There 
must  be  a  higher  thinking  than  these  institu- 
tions produce,  and  freer,  for  the  inauguration 
of  new  and  larger  political  and  social  move- 
ments. Scholarship  that  commands  science 
and  philosophy  as  well  as  the  classics  and  his- 
tory is  indispensable  to  great  thinking  and 
true.  The  production  of  such  scholarship  by 
fully  developed  native  or  national  scientists 
and  philosophers  can  be  hoped  for  only  at  the 
end  of  a  long  process  of  constructive  instruc- 
tion in  genuine  learning  and  genuine  Chris- 
tianity. The  world  must  be  brought  to  the 
conception  that  education  is  the  process  of  ex- 
panding horizons.  Woodrow  Wilson,  teacher 
and  statesman,  has  said:  "The  object  of  a  lib- 
eral training  is  not  learning,  but  discipline  and 
the  enlightenment  of  the  mind.  The  educated 
man  is  to  be  discovered  by  his  point  of  view, 
by  the  temper  of  his  mind,  by  his  attitude 
toward  life  and  his  fair  way  of  thinking." 
Whatever  else  Christian  missions  may  do, 
without  great  centers  for  the  production  of 
Christian  scholarship  of  the  highest  possible 
merit  and  comprehensive  sweep,  the  superb 
objective  of  reconstructing  the  thought  of  the 


120      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

race  cannot  be  attained,  and  Christianity  will 
have  lost  its  best,  if  not  its  only,  chance  of 
making  the  world  think  Christian.  Through 
knowledge  and  knowledge  only  Christianity 
gets  its  voice  and  delivers  its  full  message  of 
life  and  destiny.  Men  will  never  come  to  their 
stature  except  as  they  are  brought  to  the  eter- 
nal foundation  of  truth.  Christianity  may  ex- 
claim with  the  words  of  St.  Paul:  "A  great 
door  and  effectual  is  opened  unto  me." 

If  ever  educated  young  men  and  young 
women  had  a  challenge  to  a  task  worthy  of 
their  highest  powers,  they  are  having  it  to-day 
from  the  vast  illiterate  mind-locked  and  life- 
darkened  mass  in  the  non-Christian  and  semi- 
Christian  world.  They  are  met  on  the  very 
threshold  of  their  careers  with  a  Macedonian 
cry  more  urgent  than  fell  upon  the  ears  of  St. 
Paul,  ''Come  over  and  help  us."  But  only 
those  who  can  help  need  go.  Masters  of  sci- 
ence, interpreters  in  philosophy,  princes  in 
knowledge  who  can  think  God's  thoughts  after 
Christ,  and  who  are  capable  of  skilled  labor 
in  constructing  and  reconstructing  human 
thought,  have  an  open  way  in  a  great  world. 
To  this  challenge  may  the  answer  be  in  strong 
and  sustained  chorus : 


RECONSTRUCTING  MAN'S  THINKING   121 

Lead  on,  O   King  eternal. 

We   follow,  not  with   fears; 
For   gladness   breaks   like   morning 

Where'er  thy    face   appears; 
Thy  cross   is  lifted  o'er  us; 

We   journey   in   its   light — 
The  crown  awaits  the  conquest. 

Lead  on,  O  God  of  might. 


LECTURE  III:  CREATING  HUMAN- 
MINDEDNESS 


The  missionary  propaganda  of  evangelical 
Christianity  began  with  the  burning  impulses 
of  devout  persons  who  heard  the  call  of  the 
world  and  felt  the  thrust  of  the  Christ  mission 
and  injunction.  They  went  forth  to  "save 
men"  through  their  faith  in  Jesus  Christ  as  a 
personal  Redeemer.  Their  own  subjective  ex- 
perience was  the  impelling  force  and  the  pri- 
mary objective  for  the  lost  heathen  peoples. 
They  went  forth  to  preach  "Jesus  Christ  and 
him  crucified,"  and  that  only  as  the  gospel  of 
salvation.  Their  zeal  was  holy  and  intense; 
their  purpose  divine  and  resolute.  They  were 
upheld  by  the  faithful  prayers  of  the  churches 
that  they  left  behind,  who  had  no  other 
conceptions  of  the  missionary's  labor  than  that 
of  preaching  the  simple  gospel.  The  churches, 
with  the  missionaries,  believed  in  the  efficacy 
of  this  gospel  and  the  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
to  consummate  the  object  of  these  tremendous 
sacrifices  and  consuming  labors.     While  the 

122 


CREATING  HUMAN-MINDEDNESS     123 

missionaries  found  the  execution  of  their  pro- 
gram more  troublesome  than  they  had  ex- 
pected, and  the  conditions  under  which  "salva- 
tion" might  be  accomplished  extremely  diffi- 
cult to  produce,  the  churches  at  home  came 
very  slowly  to  a  realization  of  the  necessity  of 
a  larger  process  for  human  salvation  than  they 
had  first  conceived. 

The  missionary  movement  began  as  the  re- 
sponse to  the  call  of  the  individual.  Men  hear 
only  the  calls  which  they  are  capable  of  receiv- 
ing. The  Church  of  the  early  centuries  of  its 
Roman  era  heard  with  the  ears  of  Rome  which 
had  been  accustomed  to  world  terms.  It  took 
people  in  the  mass,  as  did  the  empire  to  whose 
heritage  it  succeeded.  Its  missionary  propa- 
ganda was  in  the  mass  movement.  Nations 
were  born  into  this  historic  church  in  a  day. 
This  has  always  been  true  of  Romanism.  Not 
so  have  been  the  missionary  methods  and  re- 
sults in  Protestantism.  The  evangelical  mis- 
sionary propaganda  has  been  almost  entirely 
by  non-conformists,  independent  and  individ- 
ualistic religious  bodies.  Baptists  and  Pres- 
byterians, Congregationalists  and  Methodists, 
have  been  the  chief  agents  in  missionary  activi- 
ties, while  the  State  Churches  have  been  con- 
tent  w^ith   meager   endeavors.      These   great 


124     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

bodies  of  religious  individualists  have  very 
naturally  sent  forth  the  bearers  of  an  individ- 
ualistic salvation,  and  have  been  slow  to  recog- 
nize any  other  reason  for  the  missionary  effort 
than  that  of  simply  declaring  a  gospel  of  per- 
sonal salvation  in  Jesus  Christ.  So  far  as  pos- 
sible, these  Christian  bodies  have  typed  the 
men  and  women  who  have  represented  them  in 
the  non-Christian  lands.  The  world  made  no 
call  to  them;  it  was  the  lost  souls  in  heathen 
darkness. 

The  individualist  conceptions  and  convic- 
tions regarding  religion  found  a  most  favor- 
able atmosphere  during  the  last  three  cen- 
turies. Some  of  the  greatest  thinkers  of  the 
period  looked  upon  society  as  simply  a  com- 
pact among  individuals.  Edmund  Burke 
said:  "It  is  a  partnership  in  all  science,  a  part- 
nership in  all  art,  a  partnership  in  every  virtue 
and  in  all  perfections."  Hobbs  and  Locke, 
great  philosophers,  held  the  extremely  indi- 
vidualistic view  that  society  was  simply  a  con- 
tract among  persons  who  were  independent, 
self-governing,  and  free  from  control  except 
by  contract,  and  that  contract  was  formed  sim- 
ply for  mutual  advantages.  There  was  no 
sense  of  responsibility  for  the  community  life, 
nor  a  sense  of  the  necessity  for  society.    The 


CREATING  HUMAN-MINDEDNESS     125 

members  of  the  wild  tribes  without  restraint 
of  society  or  responsibihty  for  the  social  body 
were  admirable  types  of  free  men,  of  truly 
human  beings.  The  natural  rights  were  in- 
alienable. This  philosophy  of  the  individu- 
alist in  government  and  social  relations  was 
dominant  in  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth 
centuries.  It  was  in  this  same  period  that  in- 
dependentism  showed  itself  in  church  and 
state.  The  Puritans  and  the  Covenanters  were 
exponents  of  this  philosophy  and  were  promul- 
gators and  promoters  of  it  in  England  and 
America.  Individualism  in  religion  and  in 
government,  state  and  ecclesiastical,  was  char- 
acteristic not  only  of  that  period,  but  of  the 
outcome  of  that  period.  The  Declaration  of 
Independence  in  America  bore  unmistakable 
marks  of  this  doctrine,  and  the  long  standing 
doctrine  of  state  rights  was  not  put  aside  until 
the  Civil  War,  when  it  was  overcome  in  the 
contest  to  abolish  slavery.  But  the  spirit  of 
the  people  of  the  United  States  to  this  day,  as 
shown  in  the  presidential  campaign  of  1920, 
responds  quickly  to  the  appeal  of  individualism 
in  government  and  world  society.  The  sense 
of  community  responsibility,  when  the  com- 
munity is  the  world,  is  but  poorly  developed  in 
comparison  with  the  sense  of  individualistic 


126      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

importance.  The  contract  theory  of  society  is 
still  in  the  ascendency.  The  individual  unit, 
whether  personal  or  national,  has  no  obliga- 
tion except  what  it  assumes.  Salvation  of  the 
person  or  the  nation  is  individualistic  and  is  the 
supreme  end  to  be  sought.  Such  is  the  phi- 
losophy whether  in  government  or  religion. 
Under  its  powerful  influence  the  evident  teach- 
ings of  the  gospel  and  of  the  prophets  were 
neglected,  if  not  ignored. 

The  Reformation  may  be  in  no  limited  de- 
gree responsible  for  this  individualism  in  re- 
ligion. Romanism  has  always  abused  individu- 
alism by  its  imposition  of  social  control.  It 
has  always  denied  the  right  of  individual  opin- 
ion, the  power  of  individual  action,  and  the 
possibility  of  salvation  by  individual  means. 
The  Christian  community,  as  epitomized  in 
the  church  organization,  has  subsumed  the  in- 
dividual and  makes  bold  to  assert  its  sufficiency 
for  consummating  the  highest  interests,  hu- 
man and  divine,  to  which  the  individual  may 
be  entitled.  The  rebellion  against  such  un- 
warranted religious  tyranny  found  expression 
in  the  most  pronounced  religious  individualism. 
Not  only  were  the  possibilities  of  individual 
religious  experience  stressed  and  stoutly  main- 
tained, but  they  were  made  the  chief  objectives 


CREATING  HUMAN-MINDEDNESS     127 

in  all  religious  effort.  With  the  opening  of 
America  religious  individualism  found  the  at- 
mosphere and  conditions  in  which  it  thrived. 
Worshiping  God  according  to  the  dictates  of 
conscience  and  not  according  to  the  dictates  of 
ecclesiastics  led  to  the  most  far-reaching  ex- 
pressions of  individualism.  That  religion  be- 
came exceedingly  forceful  and  effective 
thereby  cannot  be  questioned.  Denomination- 
alism  had  free  rein  and  religious  views  were 
unrestrained.  The  distinctively  American 
Churches  came  to  their  strength  and  mass 
by  emphasis  on  individual  religion  and  the 
processes  by  which  the  individual  became  per- 
sonally religious.  The  churches  which  are  dis- 
tinctively ritualistic  are  largely  importations, 
being  brought  by  vast  bodies  of  unassimilated 
immigrants.  But  the  assertive,  aggressive, 
strongly  spiritual  churches  of  the  United 
States  have  been  and  are  vigorously  individu- 
alistic in  their  theology  and  in  their  methods 
of  propaganda.  The  personal  Christian  life, 
through  regeneration  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  is 
the  essential  thing  in  the  thought  and  life  of 
the  American  Churches. 

It  IS  well  recognized  that  the  redemption  of 
a  lost  w^orld  must  begin  with  the  redemption 
of  the  lost  man.    But  in  order  to  complete  re- 


128     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

demption  he  must  be  reconstructed  in  every- 
thing that  distinguishes  him  as  a  man.  He  not 
only  thinks  poorly,  but  he  thinks  error  and  evil 
and  is  not  ashamed.  His  will  is  not  only  in- 
adequate to  his  earthly  task,  but  it  is  perverse. 
The  very  spirit  of  him  is  distorted.  He  is  out 
of  relations  with  the  world  in  which  he  lives. 
He  is  at  war  with  the  nature  of  which  he  is  a 
part.  He  grovels  without  vision  and  resents 
the  fate  that  binds  him.  Man  is  lost,  and  be- 
fore he  can  get  back  home  he  must  establish 
intelligent  relations  with  his  surroundings  and 
get  his  direction  for  the  new  course.  What 
must  take  place  in  him  before  he  finds  him- 
self, relates  himself  properly  and  adequately 
to  his  world,  and  gets  his  bearings  for  a  destiny 
that  covers  more  than  one  sphere?  Vision  de- 
pends upon  the  organs  of  sight,  but  also  upon 
the  atmosphere  through  which  the  eyes  are  to 
see.  It  was  an  apostolic  discovery  that  the  gos- 
pel of  Christianity  had  in  it  the  power  to  pro- 
duce the  experience  of  personal  salvation. 
Has  it  also  the  power  of  such  thorough  recon- 
struction of  man  as  will  eventuate  in  the  re- 
construction of  this  world?  This  power  hu- 
manity must  realize  before  the  world  becomes 
Christian. 

While  redemption  is  of  man,  it  is  not  of  man 


CREATING  HUMAN-MINDEDNESS     129 

in  his  solitariness.  Man  is  not  a  detached  be- 
ing, but,  as  Homer  made  Ulysses  to  say,  a 
part  of  all  he  had  met.  He  is  also  a  part  of 
much  he  has  not  met.  It  was  the  compre- 
hensiveness of  the  humanity  of  Jesus  that  en- 
abled him  to  exhibit  the  perfect  life.  The 
complete  salvation  of  the  individual  must  in- 
volve the  sources  from  which  the  individu- 
ality is  made  up.  The  Christian  ascetics  of  the 
middle  centuries  realized  this  and  sought  de- 
tachment in  monasteries  and  convents  in  order 
to  attain  holiness.  But  they  found  themselves 
incapable  of  detachment.  Bernard  of  Clair- 
vaux  was  one  of  the  most  saintly  of  these,  and 
yet  his  busy  hands  made  kings  to  tremble  and 
popes  to  rise  and  fall.  "No  man  liveth  unto 
himself."  The  inheritance  from  Adam  was 
the  commonality  of  humanity,  and  only 
through  that  commonality  will  humanity  ever 
be  able  to  regain  the  first  estate.  Selfishness 
is  a  poor  mark  of  holiness,  and  yet  sainthood 
has  usually  been  sought  in  abnegation  of  hu- 
man claims.  Bondage  to  Christ  can  never 
mean  less  than  obligation  to  man.  There  is 
personal  salvation  through  faith  in  Jesus 
Christ,  but  in  its  very  nature  it  carries  the 
sense  of  responsibility  for  what  Christ  came 
to  accomplish.     To  be  a  Christian  is  to  have 


130     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

the  sense  of  human  kinship  accentuated  and 
the  demands  of  human  welfare  and  human  re- 
demption made  imperative. 

The  objectives  in  missionary  endeavor 
should  be  first  clearly  defined,  as  they  regulate 
the  agencies  and  processes  that  may  be  em- 
ployed in  the  consummation  of  the  supreme 
end.  Is  the  objective  to  save  men  out  of  the 
world  and  to  build  up  for  that  purpose  a 
church  in  the  world  destined  to  hold  aloof  from 
the  world?  Is  '^saving  souls"  the  primary,  the 
inclusive,  the  only  genuine  objective  in  mis- 
sionary endeavor?  Is  Christ  preached  when 
this  gospel  of  selection  and  election  is  pro- 
claimed? Did  Christ  have  as  his  mission  the 
populating  of  heaven,  or  the  regeneration  and 
final  redemption  of  the  human  race,  whether 
that  race  occupied  this  world  or  some  other? 
The  latter  is  a  much  greater  task  and  the 
processes  involved  are  enormous,  and  the  prob- 
able time  required  indefinitely  vast.  Is  this 
latter  possible  to  Christ,  and  would  it  be 
worthy  of  his  divine  labors?  The  idea  of  the 
salvation  of  the  human  race  as  a  race,  with  all 
that  it  involves  and  that  this  program  involves, 
has  usually  been  ignored.  Men  have  spoken 
of  the  by-products  of  Christian  activities, 
meaning  those  results  which  could  not  be  tabu- 


CREATING  HUMAN-MINDEDNESS     131 

lated  under  conversions  and  church  member- 
ship. This  is  a  mistake.  There  are  no  by- 
products of  Christianity  or  of  the  Christian 
propaganda,  but  products  all,  direct  and  de- 
signed. The  obligation  and  function  of  Chris- 
tianity is  to  change  this  world  into  a  kingdom 
of  God.  It  is  its  province  to  stimulate  and 
guide  the  progress  of  humanity,  to  command, 
control,  direct  and  sustain  the  energies  of 
mankind,  to  imbue  all  human  relations  with 
the  spirit  of  Christ,  and  to  create  the  confi- 
dent consciousness  in  human  lives  of  divine  re- 
lationship and  divine  kinship. 


II 

There  have  always  been  two  views  of  the  es- 
sential and  primary  work  of  missions.  The 
exclusivists  hold  that  the  Scriptural  mode  of 
evangelization  had  to  do  only  with  the  pro- 
claiming of  the  gospel,  and  that  this  is  the  only 
proper  work  of  a  missionary.  They  do  not 
recognize  the  fact  that  the  apostles  preached 
to  a  people  prepared  for  centuries  and  by  their 
entire  history  for  the  reception  of  the  gospel. 
They  had  the  prophets  as  a  background  of  all 
that  the  apostolic  evangelists  proclaimed.  The 
Messiah  had  long  been  expected.     The  entire 


132      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

world  with  which  they  dealt  was  permeated 
with  the  atmosphere  of  the  basal  religion  upon 
which  Christianity  built.  There  was  no  need 
of  a  transformation  of  thought  and  reconstruc- 
tion of  society  in  order  to  create  an  intelligent 
apprehension  of  the  new  doctrine.  The  history 
of  the  Christian  movement  from  the  apostolic 
days  until  now  shows  decidedly  that  Chris- 
tianity moves  upon  a  prepared  way  and  with- 
out this  preparation  has  never  taken  immedi- 
ate hold  upon  the  human  heart.  Before  the 
Christ  fact  has  become  real  and  vital  to  the 
conscious  soul  there  has  always  been  the  con- 
version of  the  mind  and  the  preparation  of  the 
very  conditions  of  human  conceptions.  The 
view  that  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  is  the 
only  true  work  of  missions  has  not  been  held 
long  by  those  who  became  great  missionaries 
and  who  have  been  the  mighty  forces  in  bring- 
ing in  the  new  era  of  world  life,  thought  and 
religious  inquiry.  These  missionaries  found 
that  they  must  prepare  the  soil  before  a  har- 
vest could  be  produced. 

Robert  Morrison  labored  in  China  eighteen 
years  without  a  conversion  and  could  count 
only  six  after  a  quarter  of  a  century  of  faith- 
ful, heroic,  God-directed  apostolic  work.  Why 
was  that?     Why  was  it  that  William  Carey, 


CREATING  HUMAN-MINDEDNESS     133 

the  consecrated  cobbler,  the  great  path-breaker 
of  modern  missions,  found  it  exceedingly  de- 
sirable, if  not  absolutely  necessary,  to  provide 
a  school,  a  printing  press,  a  physician  and  sur- 
geon as  indispensable  to  the  successful  preach- 
ing of  the  gospel  in  India?  Why  was  it  that 
Alexander  Duff,  that  great  Scotchman,  after 
a  decade  of  untiring  effort,  set  himself  to  de- 
stroy the  ancient  system  of  life  by  the  intro- 
duction of  western  science  and  literature,  and 
justified  himself  by  declaring,  "We  directed 
our  view  not  merely  to  the  present,  but  to 
future  generations"?  He  held  from  the  be- 
ginning that  the  receptive,  plastic  minds  must 
be  molded  to  the  Christian  system  of  thought 
and  life  in  order  to  the  proper  conception  of 
the  Christian  faith.  Robert  Morrison  failed 
to  make  converts  because  there  was  no  founda- 
tion in  the  Chinese  mind  and  life  upon  which 
he  could  build  a  faith  in  Jesus  Christ.  There 
was  no  atmosphere  to  sustain  such  a  faith.  The 
zeal  that  sent  forth  the  flaming  evangelists 
could  be  applied  only  according  to  the  knowl- 
edge which  experience  readily  and  forcibly  im- 
parted. 

The  inclusive  view  of  missions  set  the  pro- 
grams of  the  masters  in  missionary  enterprise. 
William  Carey,  Alexander  Duff,  and  Adoni- 


134      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

ram  Judson  in  India  and  Burmah;  David  Liv- 
ingstone, James  Stewart,  and  Robert  Moffatt 
in  Africa;  Robert  Morrison,  Hudson  Taylor, 
W.  A.  P.  Martin,  Young  J.  Allen  and  Timo- 
thy Richards  in  China,  G.  F.  Verbeck,  C.  M. 
Williams  and  the  Lambuths  in  Japan,  Cyrus 
Hamlin  and  the  Blisses  in  the  Levant,  John  G. 
Paton  in  the  Fijis,  Hiram  Bingham  in 
Hawaii,  William  Butler  in  Mexico,  and  Wil- 
liam Taylor  in  South  America  and  Africa 
were  reconstructionists  of  life  and  thought  in 
those  lands,  and  they  left  the  nations  with  a 
bent  toward  Christian  civilization  and  the 
Christian  religion.  The  biographies  of  these 
modern  apostles  reveal  such  effectiveness  of 
that  mode  of  evangelization  as  to  warrant  its 
continuance.  They  went  forth  to  preach 
Christ  as  a  personal  Savior  to  those  who  would 
accept  him,  and  they  lingered  to  proclaim  the 
Kingdom  of  God  as  the  medium  through  which 
Christ  is  to  become  the  Savior  of  all  men.  The 
latter  is  not  in  contradiction  to  the  former,  but 
is  inclusive  of  it  and  the  conditions  in  which 
this  primary  truth  may  be  realized.  They  left 
a  world  in  awe  before  the  possibilities  of  such 
a  kingdom  of  God  and  in  anticipation  of  a 
Messiah  that  shall  bring  salvation  to  all  people. 
In  the  opinion  of  many  superior  Christian 


CREATING  HUMAN-MINDEDNESS     135 

men  of  thought,  insight  and  outlook,  vision  and 
comprehension,  there  is  no  greater  barrier  to- 
day to  the  world's  becoming  Christian  than 
the  distressing  lack  of  human-mindedness  in 
the  Christian  Church.  Until  this  day  a  great 
body  of  very  sincere  and  devout  Christians 
have  no  thought  or  desire  of  making  the  world 
Christian.  They  are  strongly  antagonistic  to 
the  idea  and  actively  opposed  to  any  mission- 
ary program  that  has  such  as  its  objective. 
They  are  concerned  only  in  the  conversion  of 
individuals  in  such  quantities  as  to  compel 
Jesus  Christ  to  return  to  the  earth  and  set  up 
his  authority,  and  by  his  might  restore  right. 
They  boldly  assert  that  the  world  is  getting 
worse  and  worse  and  will  continue  until  it  be- 
comes utterly  unbearable,  when  Jesus  will 
come  and  usher  in  the  millennium.  Instead  of 
endeavoring  to  make  the  world  human,  they 
rejoice  as  it  is  made  inhuman.  Instead  of 
wanting  peace  they  are  hilarious  over  wars 
and  rumors  of  war.  They  never  were  so  con- 
fident and  so  assertive  of  their  doctrines  and 
so  prophetic  in  their  interpretations  of  the 
Scriptures  and  the  times  as  when  in  the  last 
decade  Europe  was  drenched  in  blood  and 
darkness  lay  upon  the  heart  of  the  world.  To 
them  any  effort  to  make  the  world  human  is 


136     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

folly  and  can  end  only  in  futility.  They  are 
certain  that  the  world  is  not  to  be  made  Chris- 
tian and  cannot  be  made  Christian.  They  are 
literalists  in  interpretation  and  individualists 
in  gospel  thinking.  They  are  extremists  in 
individuahsm.  Such  persons,  however  sincere 
and  devout,  are  unquestionably  fearful  bar- 
riers to  the  Christianization  of  the  world  and 
to  any  comprehensive  program  for  lifting  the 
level  of  human  civilization.  Whatever  may 
be  their  interest  in  and  fitness  for  the  other 
world,  they  are  wanting  in  the  chief  qualities 
of  world  citizenship  in  the  Kingdom  of  God 
on  earth. 

The  beliefs  and  teachings  of  these  extremists 
are  based  upon  the  theory  that  this  world  is  in- 
herently bad  and  irredeemable,  and  that  the 
only  thing  possible  is  the  salvation  out  of  its 
wreckage  of  as  many  souls  as  possible.  The 
devil  is  now  in  charge  and  until  he  is  chained 
for  at  least  a  thousand  years  by  the  imposition 
of  an  external  divine  authority  and  power, 
there  can  be  no  hope  of  this  becoming  a  fit 
dwelhng  place  for  the  sons  of  God.  The  sal- 
vation of  the  world,  humanity,  the  entire  race, 
by  the  spiritual  processes  which  Jesus  Christ 
introduced  and  now  supports  is  hopeless  and 
doomed  to  failure.    Unless  the  first  coming  is 


CREATING  HUMAN-MINDEDNESS     137 

succeeded  by  a  second  coming,  in  which  the 
full  power  of  God  is  demonstrably  asserted  for 
the  control  of  the  world,  the  human  race  can 
never  be  redeemed.  Christianity  is  not  con- 
ceived as  a  divine  provision  for  making  men 
human  as  well  as  making  them  divine.  The 
aspiration  to  make  the  world  Christian  has  be- 
hind it  this  double  conception  of  the  purpose 
and  work  of  Christianity.  But  in  order  to 
make  the  world  human  or  Christian,  this  phi- 
losophy of  the  world's  inherent  evil  and  this  be- 
lief in  the  final  failure  of  Christianity  unless 
it  is  reenforced  by  a  second  physical  appear- 
ance of  the  Son  of  God  must  be  utterly  re- 
pudiated. That  Christianity  can  finally  suc- 
ceed upon  the  strictly  individualistic  basis, 
with  a  complete  unconcern  in,  if  not  bold  an- 
tagonism to,  the  human  program  is  indeed 
questionable,  but  Christianity  on  the  basis  laid 
in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  in  the  paraboHc 
and  other  teachings,  the  Samaritan  incident 
and  all  that  took  place  in  the  passion,  death 
and  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ  has  every 
prospect  of  final  triumph  in  the  earth.  To 
this  end  the  missionary  propaganda  is  now  be- 
ing vigorously  conducted  in  the  world. 

Those  who  lay  emphasis  on  the  ultimate  tri- 
umph of  the  religion  of  Christ  have  come  to 


138     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

the  view  that  the  construction  and  stability  of 
human  society  constitute  the  high  and  holy 
purpose  at  the  very  heart  of  Christianity. 
Christianity  was  never  intended  to  produce 
angels,  but  men.  Wherein  men  and  angels 
agree  or  differ  cannot  be  said,  as  there  is  no 
basis  upon  which  to  build  an  opinion.  Revela- 
tion as  received  is  concerned  entirely  with  men 
and  his  salvation.  Man  has  always  insisted 
that  the  salvation  brought  by  Jesus  Christ  was 
for  his  world  and  that  alone.  The  revelation 
of  the  other  life  has  been  meager,  but  all  the 
intimations  in  the  Holy  Scriptures  lead  to  the 
view  that  it  will  be  a  human  life.  Unfortu- 
nately man  has  been  so  individualistic  in  his 
thinking  and  in  his  interests  that  he  has  gener- 
ally believed  that  salvation  was  meant  only  for 
himself  in  his  particular  personality.  He  has 
come  slowly  to  human  conceptions;  that  is, 
conceptions  of  humanity  as  a  social  body,  as 
an  entity,  having  value,  force,  movement,  and 
destiny  as  has  the  individual.  He  has  not 
always  recognized  that  the  salvation  of  hu- 
manity is  the  salvation  of  the  human  as  well 
as  the  divine  in  man.  Making  the  world 
human  is  not  entirely  a  human  process.  It  is, 
however,  more  and  more  being  recognized  as 
antecedent  to  and  a  constituent  part  of  mak- 


CREATING  HUMAN-MINDEDNESS     139 

ing  the  world  Christian.  The  humanness  in 
the  life,  thought,  service  and  ideals  of  Chris- 
tianity's adherents  and  promoters  is  an  enor- 
mous, if  not  a  determinative,  factor  in  bring- 
ing the  peoples  of  the  world  to  the  acceptance 
of  the  religion  of  the  Nazarene. 

There  is  a  great  company  of  noble,  broad- 
minded  people  who  believe  that  what  the 
world  needs  is  to  think  in  terms  of  human- 
ity. They  hold  that  if  there  were  no  Chris- 
tianity, no  other  world  destiny  for  the  race, 
human-mindedness  would  be  a  distinct  and 
most  meritorious  achievement  of  mankind. 
Human-mindedness  in  the  race,  the  established 
consciousness  of  the  unity  of  humanity,  the 
vivid  sense  of  the  kinship  of  all  people,  the 
realized  obligation  of  every  man  to  every  man 
in  the  fellowship  of  the  world,  would  be  a 
magnificent  accomplishment  for  mankind. 
The  Christian  Church  has  not  in  fact  made 
this  achievement  a  real  dominant  ideal  and  ob- 
jective in  its  labors.  It  has  asserted  its  ex- 
ternal authority  to  accomplish  a  unity,  but  it 
has  not  promoted  unity  on  the  human  basis. 
Protestantism  has  had  much  to  say  of  the 
"elect"  and  the  "predestined"  and  "decrees  of 
damnation."  These  have  not  helped  human- 
mindedness  and  thev  have  had  doubtful  values 


140     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

for  God-mindedness.  The  Church  has  stood 
for  the  common  origin  of  the  human  family, 
but  it  has  wavered  in  its  support  of  the  ideas 
of  common  life,  common  purpose,  common  in- 
terests and  common  destiny  of  humanity. 
Saving  man  for  the  kingdom  of  man  as  well 
as  the  Kingdom  of  God  has  not  seemed  quite 
as  high  an  aim  as  saving  man  out  of  man's 
world  to  an  angel  world.  Salvation  has  too 
often  been  regarded  as  a  transportation  rather 
than  a  transformation.  Religion  has  not  com- 
prehended within  its  domain  the  entire  man 
and  all  his  relations. 


Ill 

There  are  few  things  more  distressing  to 
the  thoughtful  men  and  women  who  are  con- 
cerned for  the  development  of  human  civiliza- 
tion than  the  tribal-mindedness  of  mankind. 
Tribalism  has  afflicted  the  world  since  the  days 
of  the  patriarchs.  As  shown  in  the  Bible  his- 
tory and  in  all  the  records  of  the  race  it  has 
developed  and  perpetuated  a  spirit  of  antag- 
onism and  strife.  It  still  exists  and  manifests 
itself  in  selfishness,  dissension  and  deadly  com- 
bat. The  Great  War  was  brought  on  by  the 
tribal  spirit  and  it  has  left  in  its  trail  a  mon- 


CREATING  HUMAN-MINDEDNESS     141 

strous  amount  of  tribal  hatred,  which  may,  at 
some  future  critical  time,  wreak  ruin  upon  the 
nations.  Tribalism  is  the  world's  greatest 
enemy,  and  until  it  is  conquered  by  a  new 
world  one-ness  there  will  hang  a  pall  over 
mankind.  The  clan  spirit  wills  to  rule  and 
goes  to  any  conceivable  length  to  accomplish 
its  purpose.  It  thinks  only  in  terms  of  the 
clan,  whatever  its  size  or  its  habitation.  It 
never  fails  to  lift  its  emblazoned  banner,  *'My 
clan  first."  Its  interests  are  clan  interests;  its 
purposes  are  clan  purposes;  its  sense  of  justice 
and  right  never  fail  to  accord  with  its  weal  and 
aspirations.  The  clan  spirit  has  prevailed  in 
the  world  for  forty  centuries  and  to-day  it 
interferes  with  the  great  movements  for  hu- 
manity. To  be  sure,  the  clans  in  many  sec- 
tions have  grown  larger,  and  in  some  have 
come  to  be  nations,  but  the  temper  of  diplo- 
macy, of  commerce,  of  social  relations,  carries 
an  air  of  forcible  domination  too  nearly  similar 
to  the  clan  spirit  of  the  days  of  Julius  Csesar, 
or  even  of  the  Judges.  That  there  has  been 
advancement  is  to  be  joyfully  acknowledged, 
but  the  end  to  be  desired  is  the  disposition  of 
good  will,  cooperation,  and  mutual  considera- 
tion in  all  that  pertains  to  human  life  and  its 
relations,  and  this  is  not  yet  in  view. 


142      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

The  only  complete  corrective  of  the  clan 
spirit,  or  tribalism,  is  human-mindedness.  Its 
development  has  been  a  slow  process  notwith- 
standing the  all  but  universally  accepted  be- 
lief in  the  common  origin  of  all  branches  of  the 
human  family.  The  developments  of  recent 
decades  have  contributed  extraordinarily  to 
its  production,  whether  these  developments 
have  been  in  the  sphere  of  scientific  discovery 
and  invention,  of  philosophical  theory  and 
suggestions,  commercial  enlargement,  diplo- 
matic treaties,  philanthropic  activities,  or  re- 
ligious instruction  and  service.  There  is  to- 
day a  certain  world  consciousness,  world 
thought,  world  mind  which  has  emerged  in 
very  recent  years.  That  it  will  be  submerged 
by  other  incoming  tides  is  not  probable,  al- 
though its  recently  developed  force  may  at 
times  be  held  in  abeyance.  Its  rise  is  not  an 
ebullition,  but  rather  the  result  of  long  years 
of  Christian  teaching  and  the  impact  of  Chris- 
tian thought  and  spirit.  Human-mindedness 
is  an  ideal  toward  which  Christianity  has  ever 
impelled  the  world  by  the  very  nature  of  its 
controlling  principles,  and  it  is  a  goal  worthy 
of  the  highest  Christian  effort.  Humanity  re- 
quires unity  in  order  to  its  peace,  happiness, 
and  the  enlarging  pursuits  of  life.    The  spirit- 


CREATING  HUMAN-MINDEDNESS     143 

ual  bond  is  at  this  very  moment  the  greatest 
need  of  this  planet.  Only  by  it  can  come  hu- 
man salvation  and  the  permanence  of  any 
worthy  civilization.  World  consciousness  is 
the  first  step  in  world  redemption,  and  its  de- 
velopment marks  the  progress  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion  in  the  consummation  of  its  divine 
purpose. 

Christianity  began  with  a  sense  of  world  re- 
sponsibility. Jesus  of  Nazareth  was  the  first 
world  citizen.  There  was  not  one  before  Him. 
His  interests  were  world  interests  and  His 
concern  was  for  all  humanity.  He  was  not  the 
nationalist  or  tribalist  expected,  with  the  pur- 
pose to  make  dominant  one  people  in  the  midst 
of  the  nations.  The  Jehovah  of  the  Hebrews 
had  always  been  regarded  as  partial  to  them 
because  he  was  their  particular  God.  They 
delighted  to  call  themselves  the  chosen  people. 
The  Messiah  they  sought  was  a  Jewish  mon- 
arch with  powers  unlimited  for  their  own  ag- 
grandizement. Jesus  failed  and  disappointed 
them  because  of  his  broad  horizons,  his  world 
sympathies,  and  his  human  comprehensiveness. 
They  would  not  tolerate  such  conceptions. 
The  Jews,  even  to  this  day,  are  tribalists,  in- 
tensely racial,  though  residing  in  every  nation. 
They  did  away  with  Jesus,  but  not  before  He 


144?     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

had  released  the  forces  for  a  world  redemp- 
tion. He  made  new  orbits  for  the  movements 
of  creation.  He  opened  new  channels  for  the 
currents  of  history.  He  lifted  humanity  out 
of  its  tribal  confines  and  set  it  in  the  open 
ways  of  universalism.  He  spent  His  days  pro- 
claiming a  Kingdom  of  God  for  the  earth.  He 
gave  His  life  as  the  Savior  of  the  world.  He 
laid  upon  His  friends  and  followers  the  man- 
date to  ''Go  and  make  disciples  of  the  na- 
tions.'' This  was  the  beginning  of  the  move- 
ment for  world  consciousness. 

World  consciousness  was  never  an  attain- 
ment of  the  non- Christian  peoples.  When 
China  was  first  visited  by  Robert  Morrison, 
that  pioneer  of  modern  missionaries,  a  little 
more  than  a  century  ago,  it  was  a  sealed  em- 
pire. The  Chinese  claimed  an  ancestry  of 
divine  origin.  They  knew  no  other  shores 
than  their  own.  Those  who  by  chance  found 
their  way  in  from  other  lands  could  be,  in 
their  estimation,  none  other  than  foreign  dev- 
ils. When  Commodore  Perry  first  entered 
Japan  so  late  as  1853,  he  found  a  people  of  the 
same  darkened  seclusion.  India  was  in  no 
sense  different.  Its  horrible  caste  system  is 
the  product  of  tribalism,  self-sufficiency,  and  a 
religion  of  the  most  severely  clannish  type. 


CREATING  HUMAN-MINDEDNESS     145 

Buddhism,  Confucianism,  Taoism  and  Hindu- 
ism never  developed  any  sense  of  world  re- 
sponsibility. The  non-Christian  faiths  have 
been  narrow  and  selfish,  producing  peoples  of 
like  characteristics.  No  great  explorers,  no 
world  conquerors,  no  constructors  of  racial 
destinies  ever  haled  from  lands  of  such  re- 
ligious and  intellectual  conceptions.  What- 
ever of  world  consciousness  may  be  found 
among  these  people  to-day  has  been  brought 
in  and  developed  with  Christianity  and  the 
civilization  which  Christianity  has  fostered  and 
energized. 

Christianity  began  under  the  inspiration  of 
the  world  gospel,  but  in  an  atmosphere  quite 
unfavorable  to  the  consummation  of  its  pro- 
gram. For  centuries  pagan  ideals  were  dom- 
inant. Roman  imperialism,  Greek  philosophy 
and  Teutonic  barbarity  were  in  control  of  the 
early  centuries  of  the  Christian  era,  and  these 
were  supported  and  guided  by  pagan  prin- 
ciples of  hfe,  thought,  religion  and  morals. 
Christianity  was  restrained  from  giving  ex- 
pression to  its  conceptions  of  world  responsi- 
bility. It  was  forced  in  fear  into  narrow  in- 
dividualistic molds  and  was  held  to  the  dis- 
cussion of  the  important  but  limited  meta- 
physical dogmas  of  religious  belief.     Church 


146     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

councils  were  called  and  creeds  were  passed 
upon,  but  they  were  confined  to  the  preexist- 
ence  and  the  double  nature  of  Jesus  and  the 
speculations  as  to  the  other  world.  The 
heresies  that  harassed  the  Church  in  that 
period  and  later  involved  largely  the  meta- 
physics of  Christian  theology,  or  the  mechanics 
of  the  Christian  organization.  Hellenism  was 
in  no  small  way  responsible  for  the  one  and 
Romanism  for  the  other.  Christ's  world  con- 
sciousness in  such  an  era  lost  its  significance 
and  force.  Europe  and  not  Palestine  gained 
the  ascendency  and  has  retained  it  through  the 
centuries. 

With  the  decline  of  these  world  forces  by 
which  it  had  been  bound,  the  Church  ventured 
forth  to  assume  the  role  which  pagan  imperial- 
ism in  its  ascendency  had  been  playing.  It  not 
only  constituted  itself  the  mouthpiece  of  God 
on  earth,  but  it  arrogated  to  itself  all  the  as- 
sumptions and  claims  of  the  emperor  in  his 
autocratic  control  of  the  world.  It  identified 
itself  with  the  Kingdom  of  God.  In  it  all  the 
ecclesiastical  hierarchy  represented  itself  to  be 
the  Church.  From  that  day,  a  millennium  and 
more  ago,  world  empire  has  been  the  ambition 
of  the  Roman  Church.  But  imperialism  is 
pagan  in  thought,  purpose  and  action,  and  is 


CREATING  HUMAN-MINDEDNESS     147 

no  less  so  because  it  is  ecclesiastical.  The 
dream  of  world  empire  has  been  entertained 
by  great  conquerors,  great  statesmen  and  great 
nations,  and  especially  by  the  Holy  Roman 
Empire,  but  the  dream  has  not  been  inspired 
by  the  sense  of  the  brotherhood  of  man  and 
the  Fatherhood  of  God.  Its  source  is  always 
in  the  thirst  for  power,  authority,  domination 
and  exploitation.  Wherever  ecclesiastical  im- 
perialism has  held  sway,  or  to-day  holds  sway, 
there  can  be  found  the  characteristic  products 
of  paganism,  such  as  illiteracy,  superstition, 
image  worship,  moral  obliquity  and  oligarchi- 
cal government.  The  bane  of  the  historic 
Christian  Church  has  been  its  pagan  aspiration 
for  world  empire.  Human-mindedness,  the 
true  characteristic  of  apostolic  Christianity, 
has  been  dissipated  by  the  introduction  of  Ro- 
man paganism  into  the  mind  of  the  Church. 
World  domination  is  the  very  opposite  of  all 
that  world  consciousness  would  develop  and 
support. 

World  control  by  the  imposition  of  external 
authority  is  not  a  Christian  conception,  even 
though  that  control  were  exercised  by  heavenly 
ambassadors  or  the  Lord  Jesus  Himself.  A 
temporal  kingdom  on  earth,  set  up  and  ruled 
by  Jesus   from   a  throne   on   the   Mount  of 


148      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

Olives,  would  not  meet  the  purposes  of  God  as 
revealed  in  the  Holy  Scriptures.  True  Chris- 
tian humanity  is  a  democracy.  Monarchies 
and  oligarchies  are  but  stepping  stones  to  that 
higher  human  social  control  which  is  at  yet  but 
an  ideal.  True  democracy  has  not  yet  been 
attained.  Democracy  is  dependent  upon  in- 
telligence and  righteousness  or  wisdom  and  the 
controlling  sense  of  right.  Attempts  at  de- 
mocracy succeed  or  fail  just  in  proportion  as 
these  two  qualities  prevail  in  the  people.  So 
long  as  the  people  have  not  the  wisdom,  the 
ability  and  the  righteous  motive  and  control 
for  self-government,  so  long  must  they  be  gov- 
erned by  others,  for  their  good  and  the  good  of 
society.  Imperialism  has  no  penchant  for  the 
spread  of  intelligence  and  the  production  of 
the  sense  of  righteousness,  as  these  will  inevi- 
tably mean  its  overthrow,  whether  it  is  the  state 
or  the  Church.  Education  and  the  true  Chris- 
tian religion  blaze  the  way  to  democracy  and 
make  certain  the  undermining  of  autocracy. 
Democracy  and  human-mindedness  are  cor- 
relative terms.  They  lead  to  each  other.  They 
center  the  focus  upon  man,  his  worth,  individ- 
ual and  collective,  irrespective  of  locality  or 
conditions  of  life.  He  is  not  planned  of  the 
Almighty  to  be  a  slave,  a  subject,  but  a  free- 


CREATING  HUMAN-MINDEDNESS     149 

man,  a  citizen  with  all  the  sovereign  right  of 
any  Son  of  God. 

The  Christianity  of  Christ  is  an  enemy  of 
tribalism  and  imperialism,  clannishness  and 
provincialism.  It  expands  horizons,  lengthens 
visions,  deepens  soul  yearnings  and  sets  new 
stars  in  the  heavens.  It  projects  man  upon 
outstretching  lines  of  thought.  This  was  co- 
gently illustrated  in  the  recent  World  War. 
Whence  the  guns  that  could  deliver  their  pro- 
jectiles with  much  accuracy  from  a  distance  of 
twenty  miles,  and  others  that  could  shell  a  city 
with  much  damage  seventy-five  miles  away? 
Whence  those  flocks  of  airplanes,  those  net- 
works of  battlefield  telephones,  those  deadly 
demons  of  the  deep,  those  wireless  devices  for 
limitless  communication?  Whence  this  amaz- 
ing exhibition  of  force  and  efficiency  in  the 
modern  war?  No  less  wonderful  are  the  imple- 
ments of  peace  and  the  vast  structural  work  of 
civilization.  The  modern  man  has  come  to  be 
little  less  than  a  creator.  But  the  non- Christian 
nations  furnished  nothing  of  their  own  dis- 
covery, invention  and  creation.  The  masterful 
man  in  it  all  came  to  his  exalted  supremacy  in 
the  atmosphere  of  Christianity.  Some  one 
will  rise  to  say:  ''This  is  not  due  to  the  at- 
mosphere of  Christianity,  but  to  racial  endow- 


150      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

merit."  He  who  champions  such  a  thesis  of 
the  superiority  of  the  Occidental  brain  over  the 
Oriental  undertakes  a  very  large  task.  When 
lives  from  the  beginning  have  been  subject  to 
the  same  stimuli,  the  incidents  of  birth  have 
shown  meager  significance.  It  is  well  recog- 
nized that  minds  take  character  and  strength 
from  what  passes  through  them.  The  non- 
Christian  peoples  have  not  had  the  world's 
truth  to  pass  through  their  minds  to  equip 
them  for  that  greater  service  to  the  world. 
Likewise  from  the  peoples  long  dominated  by 
an  exacting  ecclesiasticism,  little  of  invention 
and  production  has  come.  Christianity  is  a  re- 
ligion of  freedom ;  without  freedom  its  pinions 
are  clipped;  but  with  an  open  sky  and  a  free 
spirit  it  bears  man  toward  the  goals  of  divine 
destiny.  Not  the  Anglo-Saxon,  not  the  Teu- 
ton, not  the  Celt,  not  the  Latin,'  not  the  Slav 
makes  the  world  sway  under  his  power,  but 
man  brought  to  his  full  stature  for  service, 
whatever  his  race  or  region. 


IV 

Christianity  has  gone  forth  into  the  entire 
world  in  the  missionary  propaganda  teaching 
the  worth  of  man  and  instituting  the  agencies 


CREATING  HUMAN-MINDEDNESS     151 

and  activities  that  lift  him  to  a  new  level  and 
set  before  him  new  hopes  of  coming  to  full 
stature  in  the  human  family.  Man  has  been 
taught  that  he  can  achieve  mastery  over  the 
world  in  which  he  lives,  and  come  to  a  destiny 
in  the  after  life  in  keeping  with  his  powers  as 
a  son  of  God.  Emphasis  everywhere  has  been 
put  upon  man's  worth,  his  capabilities  and  his 
possibilities  in  a  righteous  environment  and  un- 
der a  sympathetic  divine  power.  Man's  esti- 
mation of  himself  has  been  lifted  and  even  ex- 
alted by  a  gospel  that  taught  that  God  consid- 
ered him  worthy  of  redemption  and  of  co-part- 
nership with  Himself  in  the  construction  and 
reconstruction  of  the  world.  He  has  been 
taught  that  Jesus  came  to  save  men,  as  Borden 
P.  Bowne  once  said:  "Not  because  they  are 
so  many,  but  because  they  are  so  dear."  Re- 
ligion has  been  so  presented  as  to  awaken  in 
man  a  sense  of  human  importance  in  the  esti- 
mation of  God  the  Father.  This  emphasis  has 
made  all  the  more  glaring  the  awfulness  of 
man's  sinning  and  sinfulness.  In  the  response 
of  the  moral  qualities  in  man  to  the  moral 
qualities  in  God,  the  realization  of  man's  soul 
unfitness  has  been  made  vivid  and,  as  in  the 
apostolic  times,  men  have  cried,  "^VTiat  must  I 
do  to  be  saved?"    That  conversion  which  is  an 


152      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

organic  reconstructing  of  the  human  spirit,  a 
regeneration,  has  resulted  from  this  new  con- 
sciousness of  man's  worth  and  his  responsibiHty 
to  God  and  his  fellow  man  because  of  his  en- 
dowments, capabilities  and  powers. 

Only  as  a  man  sees  his  own  worth  does  he 
begin  to  realize  the  worth  of  every  other  man. 
It  is  then  that  he  finds  all  the  world  akin.  Man 
is  not  ready  for  any  very  great  service  until  he 
discovers  that  he  is  human  and  a  member  of 
the  human  family.  Without  this  consciousness 
of  human  family  relationship  he  is  scarcely  ca- 
pable of  entertaining  the  high  purpose  for 
which  human  beings  actually  exist.  Those 
who  have  no  just  conception  of  the  race  receive 
no  call  to  recognize  the  kinship  of  the  race. 
The  reconciliation  of  man  to  man  in  the  world 
currents  comes  only  in  recognition  of  man's 
permanent  values  and  the  essential  unity  of 
mankind.  The  humanizing  of  mankind  is 
achieved  by  the  double  process  of  awakening 
man  to  his  own  worth  and  of  setting  up  in  the 
earth  the  unity  of  humanity.  Getting  man  to 
himself  and  above  the  animal  of  him  is  a  pri- 
mary achievement.  Fangs  and  claws  make 
great  the  tiger,  but  disgrace  the  man.  The  man 
of  prey  is  a  slur  upon  the  species  and  a  re- 
proach to  his  Maker.    But  man  can  never  be 


CREATING  HUMAN-MINDEDNESS      153 

lifted  from  the  jungle  until  the  jungle  habit 
has  been  made  despicable  by  an  awakened  con- 
sciousness of  his  own  higher  worth  and  nobler 
design.  Animal  instincts  serve  the  animal  in 
ascendency,  but  when  man  comes  to  self-ap- 
preciation and  self-assertion  the  animal  is 
cowed  to  subjection.  No  objective  in  Chris- 
tianity should  stand  out  more  boldly  than  this 
of  humanizing  mankind.  To  this  labor  the 
evangelical  propagandists,  through  missionary 
operations,  have  been  assiduously  and  intelli- 
gently devoted.  The  gratifying  results  of 
these  difficult  but  Christ-like  labors  are  to  be 
found  in  all  the  world. 

The  awakened  consciousness  of  the  back- 
ward races  is  a  sublime  testimony  to  this  high 
altruism  of  vigorous  Christianity.  Civiliza- 
tion was  thrust  upon  them  and  they  are  awak- 
ening to  its  value  and  desirability.  To-day 
the  wild  men  are  scarce,  whether  in  the  United 
States,  Mexico,  South  America  or  Central 
Africa.  The  mountain  fastnesses  of  the  Bal- 
kans and  the  Himalayas  and  the  slopes  and 
plains  of  Thibet  and  Central  Asia  have  felt 
the  pressure  of  the  Christian  missionary  and 
yielded  to  his  kindly  hand.  The  gold  hunter 
in  the  Americas  and  the  slave  trader  in  Africa 
made  the  white  man  a  foreign  devil;  the  mis- 


154      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

sionary  in  all  the  world  has  made  him  a  mes- 
senger of  light  and  hope.  The  horrors  pre- 
scribed by  the  Belgian  monarch  for  the  Congo 
blacks  cannot  be  repeated  to-day.  The  servant 
of  the  Brother  of  man  has  been  the  friend  to 
the  backward  races,  and  he  has  lifted  the  veil 
and  pushed  back  the  horizons  for  those  who 
knew  not  the  way  of  God  and  his  sons  in  the 
earth.  Non-Christian  peoples  have  never 
made  substantial  contributions  to  the  awaken- 
ing and  uplifting  of  backward  races,  even 
when  they  dwelt  at  their  door.  But  Brainerd 
and  Robinson  in  America,  Livingstone  and 
Moffatt  in  Africa,  Paton  in  the  Fiji  Islands 
and  Bingham  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  have  set 
beacons  upon  the  hill  tops  of  human  well-be- 
ing, and  backward  tribes  have  fixed  new 
courses  for  their  movements  and  new  goals  for 
their  existence.  Such  service  comes  from  men 
who  feel  the  urge  of  the  Christian  gospel. 
V  Currents  have  been  set  in  the  tides  of  men 
that  make  for  human  welfare.  The  effort  is 
on  to  lift  the  level  of  human  living  and 
heighten  the  quality  of  human  life.  This  can- 
not be  done  so  long  as  disease  stalks  the  earth, 
ignorance  beclouds  half  of  humanity,  and  pov- 
erty hangs  a  pall  over  unnumbered  multitudes. 
These  shall  be  stricken  away  by  the  processes 


CREATING  HUMAN-MINDEDNESS     155 

already  inaugurated  and  being  carried  for- 
ward. Herculean  efforts  are  being  put  forth 
to  destroy  malaria,  draw  the  fangs  of  typhoid 
fever,  wipe  out  tuberculosis,  and  hold  in  check 
the  ravaging  diseases  of  all  mankind.  The  an- 
nual reports  of  the  Rockefeller  Foundation 
will  give  a  most  illuminating  account  of  the  in- 
estimable service  which  is  being  rendered  in  the 
interest  of  world  health.  Yellow  fever  has 
now  been  confined  to  a  very  few  seed-beds  and 
the  onslaught  upon  these  is  constant  and  ef- 
fective. The  time  is  near  when  the  very  seed- 
germ  of  yellow  fever  will  be  destroyed  and  the 
race  will  be  rid  of  that  disease  forever.  Hook- 
worm disease  prevails  extensively  in  all  warm 
climates.  This  great  Foundation  has  its  corps 
of  hard  working  specialists  in  all  countries  la- 
boriously endeavoring  to  bring  this  disease  un- 
der complete  control  through  adequate  treat- 
ment and  sanitary  precautions.  Never  have 
there  been  such  campaigns  against  preventable 
and  curable  diseases.  Public  health  in  all 
countries  and  in  all  international  associations 
is  fast  assuming  primary  importance.  Medi- 
cal Colleges  of  the  highest  merit  have  been  es- 
tablished in  countries  where  the  people  have 
been  unmindful  of  their  value.  Medical  mis- 
sions that  once  were  operated  simply  as  means 


156      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

to  evangelistic  propaganda  have  now  become 
great  ends  in  themselves.  The  propagation  of 
the  gospel  of  health,  physical  strength  and  ca- 
pable bodily  organisms  has  become  a  part  of 
the  program  to  make  the  world  soundly  hu- 
man and  potentially  Christian.  Hospitals, 
nurses,  dispensaries,  orphanages  and  asylums 
are  appearing  in  all  the  world. 

Whence  all  this?  Who  built  or  inspired 
these  measures  and  means  of  world  health  and 
human  welfare?  The  non-Christian  peoples 
can  but  admit  that  they  came  from  Christian 
sources.  What  the  non-Christian  world  has 
to-day  of  medicine,  the  medical  school,  the 
hospital,  its  appliances  and  its  agencies,  is  the 
product  or  result  of  the  missionary's  labor  and 
influence.  Christianity  creates  a  philanthropy 
that  not  only  gives  relief  to  the  occasional  dis- 
tresses, but  that  also  sets  itself  resolutely  to 
reduce  the  conditions  by  which  all  distresses 
come.  It  inspires  to  remedial,  yea,  redemp- 
tive processes  for  the  deliverance  of  humanity. 
Did  not  the  Great  Physician  lead  in  this  di- 
vinely human  service?  Whether  it  be  Ar- 
menia's oppressions,  China's  famines,  or  Eu- 
rope's awful  war  curses,  the  Christian  peoples 
of  America  readily  and  nobly  respond. 
Whether  it  be  the  destruction  of  the  foes  of 


CREATING  HUMAN-MINDEDNESS     157 

civilization  or  the  construction  of  betterment 
agencies  for  the  uplift  of  mankind,  Christian 
forces  are  ever  at  hand.  Human  welfare  is 
first  in  human  considerations.  The  representa- 
tives of  the  Christian  community  stand  at  the 
crossroads  of  the  world  to  make  glad  the  hearts 
of  men.  The  instinct  of  brotherhood  has  found 
expression  through  the  human-mindedness 
which  Christianity  has  widely  promoted. 

The  same  attitude  which  has  been  assumed 
toward  the  disease  that  destroys  the  body  has 
been  assumed  to  the  diseases  of  societies. 
Poverty  is  now  looked  upon  as  a  social  disease 
and  as  having  no  place  in  a  well-ordered  world. 
It  is  not  a  necessity  laid  by  nature  upon  man, 
but  a  condition  of  his  own  production.  The 
world's  poverty  is  largely  of  the  world's  mind 
and  not  of  any  lack  in  creation.  It  may  be 
the  outcome  of  a  pernicious  social  and  indus- 
trial adjustment.  Whichever  the  cause,  it  and 
superstition  can  never  be  removed  so  long  as 
ignorance  reigns.  Remove  ignorance  and  both 
will  go  as  the  dews.  China  will  have  no  more 
famines  after  it  has  learned  to  distribute  prop- 
erly its  own  products.  India's  sixty  millions 
who  daily  lay  down  hungry  were  fed  as  an  in- 
telligent and  adequate  system  of  irrigation, 
constructed  by  a  Christian  power,  brought  its 


158      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

abundant  waters  to  its  expansive  and  fertile 
fields.  Bombay's  scourge  of  Bubonic  plague 
will  pass  when  the  people  cease  to  harbor  rats 
and  protect  fleas.  Ignorance  is  the  world's 
greatest  foe.  Human  welfare  demands  that 
ignorance  and  poverty,  whether  due  to  mental 
incompetency  or  industrial  injustice,  shall  be 
brought  to  an  end.  Shall  Christianity  reserve 
all  its  forces  and  teachings,  principles  and 
ideals  simply  for  the  salvation  of  "lost  souls," 
or  shall  it  apply  its  full  powers  to  the  full  task 
of  saving  humanity  for  this  world  and  the  next 
through  the  Spirit  of  Jesus  Christ,  Physician, 
Teacher  and  Redeemer?  Is  there  any  doubt 
as  to  which  program  will  make  the  greater  ap- 
peal to  the  race  and  so  lift  up  Christ  before  the 
world  that  He* may  draw  all  men  unto  Him? 

Whatever  else  Christianity  may  have  done, 
it  has  created  the  sense  of  human  interest  and 
has  impelled  its  adherents  to  undertake  the 
work  of  broadening  the  horizon  of  men  and 
calling  into  the  action  the  forces  that  dispel 
darkness  of  mind  and  gloom  of  spirit  and  that 
put  the  feeling  of  triumph  into  the  life  of 
the  individual  and  the  race. 

By  nothing  has  the  missionary  propaganda 
contributed  more  largely  to  the  solidarity  of 
humanity  than  by  its  promotion  of  the  fellow- 


CREATING  HUMAN-MINDEDNESS     159 

ship  of  learning.  It  would  be  difficult  to 
estimate  the  value  and  influence  of  such  in- 
stitutions as  Robert  College  on  the  Bosphorus, 
the  American  College  at  Beirut,  the  Ameri- 
can College  at  Cairo,  the  Christian  universi- 
ties at  Canton,  Shanghai,  Soochow,  Nanking 
and  Peking,  the  Doshisha  University  at 
Kyoto,  and  the  Christian  schools  at  Tokyo, 
Kobe  and  Hiroshima,  the  Christian  colleges 
at  Singapore,  Calcutta,  Lucknow,  Bombay 
and  Madras,  and  the  Universities  at  Calcutta, 
Allahabad  and  other  points  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  English  Government  in  establish- 
ing human  relations  between  peoples  and 
building  proper  estimates  of  human  values. 
Great  radiating  centers  in  these  Christian  in- 
stitutions are  flashing  rays  of  light  into  the 
darkened  corners  of  the  earth.  "The  people 
that  walked  in  darkness  have  seen  a  great 
light ;  they  that  dwell  in  the  land  of  the  shadow 
of  death  upon  them  hath  the  light  shined." 
The  modern  world  with  its  upheavals  and  en- 
tanglements, its  conflicts  and  confusion,  is  an 
awakened  world,  though  but  rousing  from  its 
long  deep  sleep.  It  cannot  return  to  its  slum- 
ber with  light  streaming  full  into  its  face.  The 
great  intellectual  awakening  now  manifest  in 
the  Far  and  Near  East,  resulting  from  the 


160      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

bold  efforts  of  far-seeing  Christian  mis- 
sionaries has  changed  the  old  order.  New 
leaders  have  arisen  for  the  great  political  and 
economic,  as  well  as  educational  movements 
of  the  Orient  and  the  Levant,  and  they  have 
their  visions  of  the  larger  life  through  the 
tutorage  of  Christ-illumined  men  and  women. 
The  achievements  in  education  in  the  non- 
Christian  lands  in  a  half  centurj'',  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  schools  and  school  systems  and  the 
training  of  leaders,  have  been  honorable  to 
the  human  race  and  have  shed  unfading  luster 
upon  the  Christian  missionary.  Only  the  sense 
of  human  worth,  directed  and  enforced  by 
human-mindedness  in  the  ambassador  of 
Christ,  would  have  contributed  this  matchless 
service  to  the  world. 

"The  measure  of  a  man  is  the  diameter  of 
his  horizon,"  is  the  statement  of  a  sage.  Ex- 
tend the  horizon  is  the  new  order  to  Chris- 
tianity. Closed-in  peoples,  by  whatever  the 
conditions,  physical,  political,  social  or  re- 
hgious,  are  marked  by  narrowness  of  mental 
perspective.  Their  convictions  may  be  intense 
but  their  ideals  are  pinched.  Their  aspirations 
and  purposes  may  be  spiritualized  by  religion, 
but  their  tribal-mindedness  becomes  then  only 
group-mindedness  in  religious  relations.     The 


CREATING  HUMAN-MINDEDNESS     161 

Christian  Church  suffers  as  much  to-day  from 
group-mindedness  as  society  does  from  tribal- 
mindedness.  Selfishness  characterizes  this 
group-mindedness  in  its  tenets  of  faith,  its  ben- 
efits of  grace,  its  blessings  of  church  organiza- 
tion and  its  rewards  for  the  faithful  unto  death. 
Group  success  has  been  identified  with  Chris- 
tianity's success.  The  mission  field  has  been 
victimized  by  all  the  group-mindedness  which 
denominationalism  could  establish.  Heresy 
charges  and  proselytism  are  common  with  the 
narrow  representatives  of  narrow  faiths,  and 
group-mindedness  has  laid  and  is  laying  the 
foundations  for  future  denominational  clashes. 
The  only  cure  for  all  this  is  a  human-minded- 
ness  with  a  horizon  as  wide  as  the  race  and 
a  conception  of  life  and  salvation  as  compre- 
hensive as  Christ's.  It  may  be  here  gratefully 
acknowledged  that  the  human-mindedness  of 
the  missionaries  has  had  a  most  beneficent 
effect  upon  the  group-mindedness  of  the  de- 
nominations at  home.  The  great  missionaries 
are  first  to  advocate  cooperation  by  the 
churches  and  proclaim  the  gospel  of  human 
service.  They  have  been  fully  convinced  that 
group-mindedness  is  an  impediment  to  Chris- 
tianity as  much  as  tribal-mindedness  is  a  check 
to  the  true  development  of  humanity.    Human 


162      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

welfare,  human  unity,  human  redemption,  are 
great  goals  for  the  Christian  Church  in  this 
new  opening  era  of  world  reconstruction  and 
Christianization  and  should  be  vigorously 
striven  for  by  every  devout  servant  of  God 
who  goes  to  the  non-Christian  and  semi- Chris- 
tian peoples  to  be  ambassadors  of  the  true 
Christ.  The  sense  of  the  human  is  to-day 
the  greatest  need  of  the  world.  The  Chris- 
tian Church  can  never  minister  to  the  need 
until  it  becomes  thoroughly  possessed  of  this 
sense.  It  was  this  that  lay  at  the  heart  of 
Jesus  and  made  him  the  messenger  of  God 
to  all  the  sons  of  men. 


"Thou  shalt  love  thy  fellow  man  as  much  as 
thyself."  Jesus  put  large  store  by  that.  He 
put  it  second  only  to  one  other  commandment : 
"Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  thy 
whole  heart,  thy  whole  soul,  thy  whole  mind." 
There  is  no  use  to  talk  of  neighbors  to  men 
who  have  no  God.  They  have  none.  It  is 
because  man  has  God  whom  he  loves  with  all 
the  powers  of  his  being  that  he  concerns  him- 
self about  the  welfare  of  his  neighbors.  The 
first   commandment   epitomized   personal  re- 


CREATING  HUMAN-MINDEDNESS     163 

ligion  and  the  second  the  social  gospel.  The 
whole  of  religion  is  summed  up  in  these  two 
commandments,  but  by  no  means  in  either 
alone.  Not  even  the  half  is  in  either,  any- 
more than  half  of  life  is  to  be  found  in  half 
a  man.  The  Church  has  always  made  much 
of  the  first,  and  rightfully,  but  its  neglect  of 
the  second  has  wrought  havoc  for  humanity 
and  delayed  the  coming  of  the  Kingdom  of 
God.  There  has  been  the  rebound,  the  recoil 
to  personal  religion  in  these  latter  days,  largely 
because  it  had  not  the  support  of  the  social 
religiousness  which  Jesus  stressed.  Commu- 
nity respect  and  friendship  are  the  only  com- 
petent medium  and  reliable  support  for  the 
community  life;  and  community  life  is  not 
merely  of  the  earth  but  of  all  worlds,  where 
man  with  his  instincts  and  endowments  could 
find  what  he  would  call  home. 

Nations  are  as  much  subject  to  the  laws  of 
society  as  individuals.  The  injunction  to  "love 
thy  neighbor  as  thyself"  was  no  mere  personal 
regulation.  It  contains  a  great  fundamental 
principle  for  mankind.  Social  regard,  respect, 
cooperation  and  friendship  are  br.sic  to  social 
advancement  and  permanence.  Nations  are 
called  by  the  highest  exponent  of  the  essential 
truth  of  human  life  to  love  one  another.     It 


164      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

is  a  pity  to-day  that  France  and  Germany  will 
have  no  regard  for  such  a  voice.  It  is  a  blot 
upon  Europe  that  the  Balkans  have  never  been 
taught  such  a  truth.  What  would  this  prin- 
ciple, strictly  enforced,  bring  about  in  the 
Orient?  The  United  States  and  Canada  have 
more  nearly  lived  up  to  this  principle  than 
any  other  two  countries.  There  is  a  party  in 
the  United  States  that  would  apply  this  prin- 
ciple with  Mexico,  but  there  is  another  party 
that  is  too  selfishly  interested  in  Mexico's  nat- 
ural deposits  to  be  controlled  by  such  an  in- 
junction. The  Monroe  Doctrine  has  been  for 
a  century  a  declaration  for  self -protection ; 
now  it  has  an  open  way  to  become  a  pronounce- 
ment for  human  brotherhood  and  a  principle 
of  international  good  will.  The  nations  that 
do  not  regard  each  other  should  be  made  to 
do  so  with  Christ's  commandment  to  love  their 
neighbors  as  themselves  beating  heavily  upon 
their  national  consciousness  and  consciences. 
The  fellow  man  has  come  above  the  horizon 
in  these  recent  years.  Nothing  so  stirred  the 
world  in  all  President  Wilson's  matchless  ad- 
dresses, delivered  with  such  inspired  wisdom 
and  vision,  as  his  emphasis  on  human  service, 
human  liberty  and  human  happiness.  What 
a  wealth  of  meaning  was  put  into  the  word 


CREATING  HUMAN-MINDEDNESS     165 

human,  used  collectively  for  mankind!  There 
is  to-day  turmoil,  strife,  and  bitter  hatred  in 
the  world,  such  as  seems  could  scarcely  have 
been  before.  The  weighty  woes  of  war  still 
curse  the  world,  and  the  end  is  not  yet.  But 
in  it  all — yea,  above  it  all — there  is  a  plaintive 
murmur,  a  sad  pleading  of  the  human  heart. 
Alfred  IS^oyes  in  his  poem,  "The  Dawn  of 
Peace"  gives  voice  to  this  stirring  emotion: 

"The  spirit  that  moved  upon  the  deep 
Is  moving  on  the  minds  of  men; 
The  nations  feel  it  in  their  sleep, 
A  Change  has  touched  their  dreams  again. 

Voices  confused  and  faint  arise 
Troubling  their  hearts  from  East  to  West. 
A  doubtful  gleam  is  in  their  eyes, 
A  gleam  that  will  not  let  them  rest." 

The  great  souls  of  whatever  nation  or  people 
rebel  at  the  forces  that  harass  their  brother 
man.  There  is  a  growing  consciousness  that 
this  should  not  be  but  that  in  its  stead  should 
be  a  new  brotherhood  of  the  races.  There  is 
a  heart  hunger  for  a  family  life.  Forces  are 
multiplying  and  being  mobilized  to  bring  the 
members  of  the  human  family  to  a  common 
hearthstone,  to  plight  anew  the  troths  of  good 
will  and  mutual  helpfulness.  A  family  of  na- 
tions, a  community  of  nations,  a  fraternity 


166     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

of  nations — that  is  the  Christian  conception 
and  the  ideal  toward  which  mankind  must 
move.  Science  and  philosophy,  with  their  ap- 
pliances and  applications,  have  reduced  the 
world  to  a  bedlam  and  a  continuous  battlefield 
if  that  for  which  Christianity  stands  does  not 
produce  a  brotherhood.  The  world  neighbor- 
hood now  in  existence  must  be  a  scene  of  love- 
making  and  holy  friendships  or  of  feuds  and 
deadly  hate.  Men  can  no  longer  dwell  apart; 
can  they  be  taught  to  live  together?  Shall 
they  live  as  revengeful  desperados,  or  as 
friendly  neighbors,  mutually  respectful  and 
helpful? 

The  kingdom  of  God,  which  Jesus  put  first 
in  all  his  speech,  prayer  and  life,  is  not  to  be 
an  aftermath  of  this  world.  It  is  the  one  end 
for  which  this  earth  exists,  and  will  continue 
to  exist.  The  Christian  prophecy,  written  by 
the  beloved  disciple  and  apostle,  is  that  the 
kingdoms  of  this  world  shall  be  under  the  sov- 
ereignty of  God  and  that  Christ  shall  reign 
in  them  forever.  To  that  divine  end  all  crea- 
tion moves.  Nations  that  cannot  be  taught  this 
supreme  lesson  of  social  life  can  come  only  to 
dispersion.  The  nations  that  can  live  together 
will,  in  the  providence  of  God,  supplant  those 
that  cannot.     This  is  the  logical  teaching  of 


CREATING  HUMAN-MINDEDNESS     167 

Christianity  and  the  well-founded  expectation 
of  its  adherents.  What  effect  will  such  con- 
victions, expressed  in  the  heart  councils  of  hu- 
manity, have  upon  the  trend  of  world  events? 
The  league  of  nations  is  a  Christian  concep- 
tion. The  master  minds  who  first  proposed 
it,  those  who  have  wrought  upon  it  for  decades, 
and  those  who  finally  produced  a  tangible  form 
for  its  operation,  were  Christian.  The  high 
idealism,  which  is  as  essential  to  its  ongoing 
as  to  its  formulation,  is  possible  only  from 
a  Christian  source.  This  missionary  propa- 
ganda can  have  no  more  far-reaching  objective 
than  just  this  of  establishing  a  real  league  of 
humanity  through  which  the  nations  may  set 
up  a  brotherhood  of  the  race  and  forge  that 
spiritual  bond  that  is  so  requisite  to  the  perma- 
nence of  world  peace. 

Any  covenant  of  peoples  must  carry  force 
in  order  to  its  fulfillment.  But  military  alli- 
ance is  not  the  first  thing  in  such  a  league. 
It  is  good  w^ll  that  the  world  needs.  "Peace 
on  earth  for  men  of  good  will."  Good  will 
can  eventuate  only  in  good  service.  What 
an  association  of  nations  can  do  for  the  peo- 
ples, and  not  what  it  protects  them  from,  will 
in  the  end  determine  the  value  of  such  a  bond. 
Altruism  is  the  antidote  of  national  as  well 


168     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

as  personal  selfishness,  and  the  cure  of  malig- 
nant vindictiveness.  The  force  that  completely 
disarms  a  vicious  foe  is  friendship,  respect, 
love.  Such  a  disarmament  the  nations  will 
eventually  come  to  make.  A  military  alliance 
of  forty  or  fifty  nations  to  delay  war  between 
two  ugly-tempered  peoples  may  have  value, 
but  it  is  the  least  value  of  a  genuine  league  of 
nations.  The  war  on  war  should  be,  and  can 
be,  successfully  carried  on,  but  the  weapons 
in  the  conflict  must  be  other  than  enginery 
of  the  battlefield.  The  force  that  will  put  an 
end  to  war  is  moral  and  spiritual,  not  physical 
and  carnal.  Militarism  must  go  with  war. 
Human  power  is  called  upon  to  assume  better 
forms  and  devote  itself  to  higher  ends  than 
any  that  militarism  may  devise. 

The  worldly-wise  man  is  saying:  *'That  is  all 
very  well,  but  it  takes  more  than  that  to  tame 
this  wild  world."  Better  say,  '*It  will  take 
as  much  as  that."  Disarmament,  international 
police,  an  international  court  and  an  interna- 
tional parliament  are  essentials,  but  they  can- 
not give  strength  and  perpetuity  to  a  league 
of  nations.  There  must  be  international  labor, 
international  currency  which  cannot  be  set 
aside  by  the  fickleness  of  exchange,  interna- 
tional fixing  of  prices  for  the  commodities  of 


CREATING  HUMAN-MINDEDNESS     169 

human  living,  international  principles  of  com- 
merce and  transportation,  international  stand- 
ards of  education  and  means  for  its  acquisi- 
tion, international  helpfulness  in  providing  for 
the  home,  the  happiness  and  development  of 
mankind.  The  league  of  nations  must  be  a 
covenant  of  man  to  love,  honor  and  serve  his 
fellow  man.  The  irreligious  man  says  to  all 
this,  "Impossible";  the  non-Christian  man 
says,  "Undesirable."  The  Christian  man  of 
America  cherishes  such  an  ideal  and  says: 
"Why  should  we  be  afraid  of  responsibilities 
which  we  are  qualified  to  sustain,  and  which 
the  whole  of  our  history  has  constituted  a 
promise  to  the  world  we  would  sustain?"  The 
brotherhood  of  man  is  not  only  a  Christian 
doctrine,  but  also  a  Christian  ideal.  It  is  fast 
being  burned  into  the  consciousness  of  man- 
kind as  the  sublime  hope  of  human  redemption 
and  human  perpetuity.  In  this  far-reaching 
work  the  missionary  is  a  pioneer  and  leader. 
Human-mindedness  culminates  in  bonds  of  fel- 
lowship, kinship  and  permanent  peace. 


VI 

The  Christian  missionary  of  the  evangelical 
faiths  has  been  the  path  breaker  in  the  Orient 


170      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

for  the  common  miderstanding  of  man.  He 
has  been  the  interpreter  of  one  race  to  another, 
and  has  removed  in  literally  thousands  of  cases 
the  menacing  misunderstandings,  and  has  ce- 
mented bonds  of  good  will  between  the  nations. 
The  Japan  Mail  once  said:  "No  single  per- 
son has  done  as  much  as  the  missionary  to  bring 
foreigners  and  Japanese  into  close  inter- 
course." The  same  might  be  said  of  China 
and  Korea.  The  Near  East  has  felt  this  same 
bond  between  the  Americans  and  its  own  peo- 
ple. The  twenty-five  thousand  missionaries 
scattered  throughout  the  world,  giving  their 
lives  to  some  foreign  people,  are  invisible 
bonds  among  the  nations  which  become  more 
and  more  firm  with  the  accumulating  years. 
They  are  the  shock  absorbers  in  the  interna- 
tional collisions  and  ward  off  the  evil  of  heated 
conflict.  They  proclaim  and  practice  the  prin- 
ciples of  human  brotherhood  as  fundamental 
in  Christian  doctrine,  and  they  demand  human 
consideration  for  all  people.  The  golden  rule 
has  been  written  by  them  and  the  Christian 
statesmen  into  the  international  law  of  the 
world.  Their  contributions  to  world  peace 
make  all  mankind  their  debtor.  They  have 
won  the  high  esteem  and  complete  confidence 
of  the  nations  to  which  they  have  gone  and 


CREATING  HUMAN-MINDEDNESS     171 

liave  become  the  most  reliable  and  capable 
servants  of  their  own  nations  in  the  foreign 
lands. 

The  missionary  has  been  a  diplomat  and  the 
diplomats'  aid  wherever  he  has  been  sent. 
When  Caleb  Gushing  conducted  the  first  dip- 
lomatic negotiations  with  China,  two  mission- 
aries were  his  interpreters.  The  Hon.  John 
W.  Foster,  a  long-time  resident  of  China, 
bears  testimony,  **Up  to  the  middle  of  the  last 
century  Christian  missionaries  were  an  abso- 
lute necessity  in  diplomatic  circles."  The  mis- 
sionaries have  not  only  served  their  own  gov- 
ernments, but  the  governments  under  which 
they  labored.  Robert  Morrison  was  for 
twenty-five  years  the  adviser  of  the  British 
Government  at  Canton.  Verbeck  had  so  much 
to  do  with  the  reconstruction  of  the  system 
of  government  in  Japan  that  he  is  called  the 
Father  of  the  constitution  of  Japan.  Dr.  W. 
A.  P.  Martin  was  for  almost  a  quarter  of  a 
century  a  most  influential  adviser  at  Peking. 
In  the  non-Christian  world  the  evangelical 
missionary  has  been  a  most  valuable  diplomatic 
aid  and  has  been  in  reality  an  astute  diplomat 
for  his  own  country  and  the  country  to  which 
he  was  unselfishly  giving  his  life.  The  Roman 
Catholic  priest  is  always  the  politician  and  has 


172      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

an  eye  out  for  the  main  chance  of  temporal 
power.  He  became  persona  non  grata  to  the 
Japanese  and  to  the  Chinese  as  well.  But  the 
evangelical  missionary  still  holds  his  influence 
for  good  will  among  the  nations  and  renders 
high  service  in  creating  and  maintaining  a  sym- 
pathetic understanding  among  the  nations. 

What  is  it  that  the  missionaries  have  not 
done  to  promote  human-mindedness,  human 
welfare,  human  intelligence,  universal  peace, 
international  good  will  and  the  brotherhood  of 
the  race  ?  What  other  group  of  world  workers 
has  done  so  much?  All  the  armies  and  all  the 
navies  of  the  world  have  scarcely  reached  the 
half.  The  greatest  force  for  bringing  about 
a  real  league  of  nations,  a  genuine  peace  cov- 
enant of  mankind,  lies  not  in  the  chancellories 
of  Europe,  Asia  and  America,  but  with  that 
consecrated  company  of  Christian  missionaries 
who  labor  incessantly  and  untiringly,  with  faith 
in  God  and  man,  in  the  heart  centers  of  the 
race.  Put  at  the  cross  roads  of  Europe  such 
a  company  as  now  labor  in  the  rest  of  the 
world  and  they  will  draw  the  fires  of  hate, 
light  the  lamps  of  love,  and  set  the  nations 
to  singing  the  Hallelujah  Chorus.  The  mis- 
sionary has  the  palladium  for  the  world's  peace 
as  he  has  the  divine  provision  for  the  world's 


CREATING  HUMAN-MINDEDNESS     173 

salvation.  As  he  makes  vocal  the  gospel  of 
redemption,  he  makes  vital  the  gospel  of  peace. 
The  sweep  of  the  Christ  he  proclaims  thrills 
the  world  with  hope,  and  invites  to  action  the 
best  energies  of  the  race  for  the  achievement 
of  its  noblest  aspirations.  Light,  health,  peace 
and  good  will  follow  in  his  train.  The  world 
will  swing  out  into  day  and  take  the  course 
of  heaven  as  it  comes  to  know  the  Nazarene 
and  feel  the  force  of  His  hand  of  love.  To 
make  Him  known  is  God's  supreme  command 
to  the  sons  of  men. 


LECTURE  IV:  ELEVATING  SOCIAL 
VALUES 


A  VERY  ancient  writer  reports  that  the  Lord 
God  said,  "It  is  not  good  that  man  should  be 
alone."  That  is  the  statement  of  an  immuta- 
ble principle,  whatever  the  particular  applica- 
tion intended.  This  is  just  as  true  of  groups 
as  of  individuals.  Men  who  live  apart  live 
poorly  and  partially.  They  fail  to  get  their 
counterparts  in  other  individuals  or  sections 
of  the  race.  In  this  aloneness  they  develop 
the  sense  of  self-sufficiency  and  become  blind 
to  their  gross  deficiencies.  This  is  true  even 
of  ascetic  monastic  saints.  The  idiosyncrasies 
of  racial  groups  developed  in  their  physical 
and  mental  solitariness  are  to-day  the  out- 
standing barriers  to  world  cooperation  and 
human  brotherhood.  One  cannot  read  the 
early  historical  portions  of  the  Old  Testament 
without  being  horrified  by  the  ferocious  bru- 
tality of  the  tribes  in  their  dealings  with  each 
other.  Notwithstanding  their  common  origin, 
the  separation  for  generations  developed  the 

174 


ELEVATING  SOCIAL  VALUES         175 

sense  of  otherness  and  therefore  hostihty. 
Nothing  is  more  remarkable  and  really  amaz- 
ing about  the  history  of  mankind  than  the 
seemingly  set  purpose  to  maintain  his  alone- 
ness,  aloofness,  suspicion  and  enmity.  The 
treaties  on  record  in  Europe  covering  a  thou- 
sand years  are  glowing  testimonials  to  the  un- 
tiring efforts  of  nations  to  keep  people  in  a 
state  of  separateness  and  rancorous  animosity. 
Only  once  have  nations  thought  in  terms  of 
humanity,  and  then  instant  fear  feU  upon 
them  and  they  rushed  back  into  their  barbaric 
selfishness.  They  lacked  the  support  of  a 
new  human  consciousness  which  is  possible 
only  through  the  Christian  conception  of  man 
and  society.  They  fell  from  the  high  ideal 
of  a  covenant  of  humanity  to  the  old  fang 
and  claw  alliance  of  powers.  The  lion  and 
the  tiger  may  cower  in  the  lair  and  bring  quiet 
for  a  time,  but  trouble  will  be  ever  in  the 
brewing.  There  is  no  hope  of  a  new  state 
of  life  until  there  is  a  new  conception  of  social 
values,  social  possibihties  and  social  responsi- 
bilities. 

Society  has  been  thrust  upon  mankind  and 
there  is  no  escape.  Space  is  gone  and  time  is 
vanishing.  There  can  be  no  hermits  of  nations 
or  peoples.    The  daily  happenings  of  the  world 


176      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

are  within  the  range  of  common  knowledge, 
and  the  thoughts  of  all  are  a  common  heritage. 
Man  cannot  get  away  from  society.  He  is 
compelled  to  be  a  social  being.  His  individual- 
ism served  him  well  in  the  days  of  his  soli- 
tariness, but  he  has  lost  his  solitariness.  He 
may  complain  about  it  as  the  American  In- 
dian who  longs  for  the  wilds  of  his  forefathers, 
but  there  are  no  more  wilds  and  there  are  never 
to  be  any  more  wilds.  The  world  is  not  going 
back  to  the  aboriginal  state  to  please  the  be- 
lated aborigines.  The  Indian  must  become  a 
citizen  or  a  nuisance.  The  same  is  true  of 
every  other  man  in  the  world.  Steam  and 
electricity,  discovery  and  invention,  science  and 
philosophy  have  made  this  planet  into  a  neigh- 
borhood and  there  is  no  escape  from  society. 
The  barriers  between  peoples  henceforth  must 
be  of  their  own  invention  and  construction. 
The  question  very  naturally  arises,  what  shall 
be  the  character  of  the  new  neighborhood  life 
in  the  world  ?  Is  Christianity  interested  or  in- 
volved in  the  production  and  preservation  of 
the  proper  social  state,  conditions  and  rela- 
tions? Is  there  a  religious  basis  for  society 
which  Christianity  should  seek  to  establish  and 
maintain?    Before  attempting  to  answer  these 


ELEVATING  SOCIAL  VALUES         177 

questions  it  will  be  well  to  examine  the  state 
of  society  of  to-day. 

All  Europe  reeks  with  the  rottenness  of 
social  conditions.  This  is  true  from  the  Med- 
iterranean to  the  North  Sea,  and  from  the 
Bay  of  Biscay  to  the  Ural  Mountains.  The 
political,  industrial  and  social  situations  are 
marked  by  alarming  unrest  and  constantly 
threatened  by  increasing  revolution.  This 
should  occasion  no  surprise  when  it  is  realized 
that  the  entire  basis  of  present  day  society 
is  loathsomely  materialistic.  This  is  evidenced 
by  the  report  of  the  Peace  Conference  at  Ver- 
sailles, of  the  supreme  council  in  its  various 
meetings,  and  in  the  social  and  political  move- 
ment and  upheaval  in  Western  Europe.  The 
chancellories  of  the  world  were  never  more 
overwhelmed  by  materialism  than  in  this  post- 
war period.  Greed,  vantage  ground,  personal 
and  national  gain  seem  ever  the  ascendant  ob- 
jectives. It  might  be  said  of  the  world  as  it 
was  said  of  England  in  the  early  part  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  "It  is  no  time  to  regard 
men  as  living  souls;  they  must  be  thought  of 
rather  as  tools,  as  workmen,  as  producers  of 
wealth,  the  builders  of  industry,  and  the  cap- 
tains of  soldiers  of  fortune.     Men  must  talk 


178      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

of  fiscal  problems,  of  the  law  of  commerce,  of 
raw  materials  and  the  processes  of  manufac- 
ture, of  the  facilitation  of  exchange.  Pohtics 
center  in  the  budget,  and  the  freedom  men 
think  of  is  rather  the  freedom  of  the  market 
than  the  freedom  of  the  hustings  or  of  the 
voting  booth."  Society  has  lost  its  sense  of 
spiritual  values  and  has  fallen  to  the  low  level 
of  physical  and  temporal  expediency.  Ma- 
terialism has  usurped  the  rule  over  the  nations 
and  humanity  has  become  enslaved  to  the 
grosser  conceptions  of  life.  The  heart  grows 
sick  as  it  contemplates  the  state  of  the  social 
mind  in  the  very  home  of  modern  civilization 
from  which  go  out  the  major  influences  that 
are  determinative  if  not  dominant  in  all  the 
world. 

The  plague  spot  of  humanity  to-day  is  in 
the  heart  of  Europe.  Militarism  could  be 
stricken  from  the  earth  if  Europe  would  con- 
sent. The  defeat  of  Germany  in  its  mad  de- 
signs of  military  world  domination  has  in  no 
way  reduced  the  prestige  of  the  military  par- 
ties at  the  courts  of  the  major  powers.  The 
Orient  is  learning  war  of  Europe.  The  Amer- 
icans are  kept  armed  against  the  possibility  of 
an  European  imbroglio.  The  war  to  end 
war  cannot  be  successfully  conducted  by  the 


ELEVATING  SOCIAL  VALUES         179 

sword;  it  must  be  by  reason  and  good  will 
operating  in  the  minds  and  consciousness  of 
the  European  peoples.  Little  less  than  the 
calamity  of  mihtarism  is  the  plague  of  political 
vagaries  developed  in  recent  decades,  that 
moves  like  a  cloud  of  poisonous  gas  upon  the 
entrenched  supporters  of  stalwart  civilization. 
Marxism,  Nihilism  and  Bolshevism  in  their  ex- 
treme forms  have  cursed  the  peoples  amidst 
whom  they  arose,  and  they  have  given  off  the 
various  phases  of  socialism  and  communism 
which  have  been  the  outstanding  insinuating 
foes  to  industrj%  economy  and  stable  social 
life  in  England  and  America.  The  propagan- 
dists of  industrial  unrest  and  political  upheaval 
have  been  the  migrating  sons  of  these  plague- 
stricken  centers  of  Europe,  in  which  morals 
have  been  discounted  and  from  which  religion 
has  been  excluded.  For  the  last  quarter  of  a 
century  the  immigrant  tide  from  Europe  to 
America,  north  and  south,  has  carried  an  in- 
fluence that  is  preponderantly  materialistic, 
agnostic  and  even  anti-religious.  The  forces 
that  Europe  has  given  off  to  the  nations  in 
these  later  years  have  been  wanting  in  that 
fine  spirit,  those  splendid  purposes  and  high 
ideals  which  characterized  the  early  colonists 
in  the  American  Republic.     Europe  has  lost 


180      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

its  power  to  transfuse  health-giving  blood  to 
the  world's  humanity. 

Europe  will  never  become  better,  but  only- 
worse,  until  its  ideals  of  society  and  its  prin- 
ciples of  social  relations  shall  be  radically 
transformed.  The  heavy  hand  of  the  past 
stays  progress.  The  heritage  of  the  nursery 
days  of  civilization  has  hindered  the  produc- 
tion hy  matured  society  of  the  larger  facilities 
for  the  broadened  responsibilities.  Childhood 
things  have  not  been  put  away  as  man's  era 
has  come  on.  The  disgusting  if  not  exasper- 
ating flummery  of  pretentious  aristocracy  is 
an  irritation  to  broad-minded,  purposeful  men 
and  women  who  seek  to  establish  a  real  broth- 
erhood of  mankind.  Much  of  the  untoward  in 
European  life  to-day  is  directly  traceable  to 
the  rebellion  of  thoughtful  persons  against  the 
inequalities  which  so-called  aristocracy  strives 
to  maintain.  These  remnants  of  feudalism  and 
tribal  civilization  are  out  of  date,  and  a  vig- 
orous application  of  modern  political  and  so- 
cial science  would  put  them  out  of  existence. 
The  real  trouble  is,  the  spiritual  sources  of 
society  have  been  clogged  and  the  out-going 
currents  have  not  been  sufficiently  strong  and 
of  adequate  volume  to  flush  the  broadened 
channels  which  the  larger  life  requires.    Social 


ELEVATING  SOCIAL  VALUES         181 

stagnation  has  brought  on  social  disease  and 
these  will  continue  until  the  streams  of  spirit- 
ual influence  shall  fill  the  ways  of  society  with 
cleansing  virtues  and  the  renovating  forces  of 
new  conceptions  and  vitalizing  ideals.  For 
half  a  century  religion  in  continental  Euro- 
peans has  been  at  a  low  ebb.  The  desecration 
of  the  Christian  Sabbath  by  the  masses  has 
been  flagrant.  The  worship  of  the  sanctuary 
and  the  devout  study  of  the  Word  of  God 
have  been  willfully  neglected  by  the  intel- 
lectual and  political  leaders  of  the  nations. 
Almighty  God  has  had  no  hearing  at  the  courts 
in  the  formation  of  plans  and  the  inaugura- 
tion of  movements  that  have  set  destiny  to 
mankind.  Christ's  Christianity  has  had  little 
voice  and  less  application.  There  is  little  won- 
der that  society  grovels  and  humanity  moves 
in  uncertainty  and  fear.  Yet  the  Christian 
Church  has  not  ceased  its  functions  as  they 
related  to  the  observance  of  ordinances  and 
ceremonies  and  the  administration  of  its  in- 
structions and  comforts  to  the  occasional  in- 
dividuals. But  in  dealing  with  life  and  society 
it  has  revealed  a  withered  hand  from  which 
all  power  had  departed.  The  sinews  of  a  vig- 
orous, forceful  faith  no  longer  held  man  to 
God  or  man  to  man.    How  different  from  the 


182      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

formative  days  of  Israel  when  the  spokesman 
for  the  nation  and  the  civihzation  from  which 
Christianity  came  cried  aloud  and  spared  not. 
They  had  a  vivid  sense  of  Israel  as  a  living 
being  that  was  responsible  to  Almighty  God, 
its  chief  ruler,  and  to  the  people  whom  God 
had  chosen.  Whatever  might  be  the  destiny 
of  the  individual,  the  nation  was  to  endure  for- 
ever. Continental  Europe  has  had  no  proph- 
ets; only  priests.  "Like  people,  like  priests," 
was  Hosea's  characterization  of  his  times. 
Like  people,  like  church,  has  been  true  of  Eu- 
rope for  a  century.  Romanism  has  been 
marked  by  political  machination,  feudalistic 
ecclesiastical  conceptions,  tyranny  of  authority 
and  neglect  of  the  minds  and  living  conditions 
of  the  people.  It  has  produced  no  social  re- 
formers. Protestantism  has  been  consumed 
with  its  metaphysical  dogmatizing  over  doc- 
trines, theological  hair-splitting  and  the  spec- 
ulations in  textual  and  historical  criticism,  and 
has  had  no  time  or  thought  for  the  Christiani- 
zation  of  the  minds,  souls  and  social  relations 
of  the  people.  Genuine,  practical,  apostolic 
Christianity  has  not  had  a  real  chance  at  con- 
tinental Europe  in  fifty  years.  Its  neglect 
has  brought  havoc  to  mankind,  unleashed  the 
ravishers  of  civilization,  and  left  the  world 


ELEVATING  SOCIAL  VALUES         183 

at  the  peril  of  forces  of  materialism,  agnosti- 
cism and  blind  self-interest.  Europe  is  awak- 
ening to  the  necessity  of  the  revival  of  re- 
ligion. 

What  shall  be  the  character  of  the  religion 
which  Europe  and  the  world  are  to  receive? 
The  conviction  has  gained  currency  that  God's 
purpose  in  Jesus  Christ  was  fundamentally 
social  while  elementally  individual.  Through 
the  salvation  of  individuals,  social  beings  and 
citizens  were  to  be  created  and  developed. 
The  unredeemed  man  is  not  qualified  for  the 
citizenship  which  is  required  for  God's  king- 
dom. Man,  of  himself,  is  worthy  of  redemp- 
tion, but  the  broader  purposes  of  the  redemp- 
tion are  social.  In  this  way  only  God's  eternal 
purposes  can  be  consummated  and  His  crea- 
tive energies  have  full  play.  The  Church  has 
always  held  the  conception  of  a  purified  and 
glorified  Society,  but  for  another  world.  It 
has  not  reaUy  made  the  creation  and  establish- 
ment of  such  a  society  on  earth  its  chief  and 
comprehensive  objective.  It  has  really  never 
taken  seriously  the  obligation  or  the  possibility 
of  such  a  consummation.  Its  entire  system 
of  thought,  activity,  and  inducements  has  had 
to  do  with  the  after-life  and  the  after-place. 
There  has  come  a  rude  awakening,  by  a  shock. 


184      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

to  the  awful  fact  that  social  values  of  this 
earth  must  have  a  new  appraisement,  that  so- 
cial life  must  be  quickened  from  above,  and 
that  social  ideals  must  hereafter  be  set  blaz- 
ing in  the  sanctuary  of  God.  The  withered 
hand  is  to-day  the  church's  shame  and  humil- 
iation. The  Lord  in  this  hour  commands, 
"Stretch  forth  thy  hand."  Healing  will  come 
as  that  hand  is  placed  under  the  burdens  of 
the  weary  world.  Christianity  will  become 
commanding  as  it  becomes  redemptive  of  the 
entire  domain  of  human  life.  This  truth  the 
living  Church  must  make  vital  in  its  service 
to  the  world. 

II 

The  Christian  Church  has  become  vividly 
conscious  of  being  face  to  face  with  a  status 
of  social  conditions  vastly  different  from  any 
that  it  has  ever  hitherto  confronted.  That  a 
social  revolution  is  on  cannot  be  gainsaid. 
Whether  the  Great  War  was  the  occasion  of 
its  being  projected  upon  the  world,  or  whether 
the  War  was  itself  a  feature  of  the  revolution, 
history  must  yet  determine.  Students  of  so- 
ciety judge  revolutions  by  movements  and  not 
by  cataclysms,  and  their  verdicts  may  be  with- 
held until  more  of  the  evidence  is  in.     The 


ELEVATING  SOCIAL  VALUES         185 

late  Benjamin  Kidd  in  his  "Science  of  Power," 
says  that  if  the  age  preceding  the  War  could 
be  seen  as  the  historian  could  see  it  we 
"should  see  this  war  of  the  nations  to  be  no 
more  than  an  incident  in  a  universal  movement, 
involving  every  form  of  thought  and  activity 
in  the  West,  gradually  rising  to  a  climax 
throughout  the  world."  It  was  his  view  that 
we  are  in  the  opening  stages  of  a  "revolution 
the  like  of  which  has  never  been  experienced  in 
history."  To  be  sure,  his  chief  reference  is 
to  the  industrial  or  material  value  feature  of 
the  revolution,  but  the  fabric  of  society  is  such 
that  if  the  industrial  feature  is  radically  af- 
fected, all  society  will  inevitably  be  trans- 
formed. The  forces  that  operate  in  the  world 
are  really  general,  and  the  philosophy  of  soci- 
ety is  a  unit.  There  are  few  disturbances  that 
are  now  truly  local.  World  mobilization  has 
been  practically  achieved  and  currents  that  af- 
fect the  parts  will  eventually  move  the  whole. 
The  Church  itself  is  not  secure  from  change 
w^hen  all  the  rest  of  the  world  is  being  trans- 
formed. Revolution,  such  as  here  indicated, 
w^ill  stir  all  social  conditions  and  affect  all  so- 
cial values. 

The  recent  war  began  with  great  display 
of  military  forces  but  ended  with  a  remarka- 


186      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

ble  demonstration  of  socialistic  organization 
and  propagation.  For  a  period  of  several 
months  the  masters  of  the  armies  were  in 
deadly  fear  of  the  socialistic  spirit.  The  uni- 
versal conscription  that  made  the  armies  has 
become  the  method  of  labor  organization.  The 
power  to  command  no  longer  rests  with  the 
State  or  Government.  In  every  country  the 
recruiting  of  the  social  industrial  army  has 
gone  on,  making  ready  for  the  day  when  its 
demands  upon  the  world  shall  be  irresistible. 
The  state  of  war  in  the  economic  realm  is  not 
so  spectacular  as  in  the  military  struggle,  but 
that  it  exists  and  is  determined  and  deadly 
is  common  knowledge.  The  entire  system  of 
modern  capitalism  is  arraigned  by  labor  be- 
fore public  opinion  as  vicious,  anti-social  and 
fundamentally  unjust.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
entire  program  of  labor  is  arraigned  by  capital 
as  malicious,  dictatorial  and  despotic.  Each 
party  is  strengthening  itself  daily  for  the  ti- 
tanic struggle.  Wealth  has  never  been  sO 
thoroughly  mobilized  and  labor  never  so 
strongly  organized.  Each  is  depending  upon 
its  force  to  win  in  the  end  whatever  may  be 
the  cost  to  its  opponent  and  the  public.  This 
is  not  a  local  community  contest,  nor  of  one 
nation.    It  is  a  world  contest  so  far  as  wealth 


ELEVATING  SOCIAL  VALUES         187 

and  labor  have  been  able  to  organize  the  world ; 
and  the  day  is  rapidly  approaching  when  it 
will  indeed  be  a  world  contest.  It  is  yet  to 
be  determined  whether  or  not  militarism  will 
pale  into  insignificance  as  a  foe  to  humanity 
in  comparison  with  industrialism  or  capitalism 
or  economic  tyranny. 

Has  Christianity  anything  to  do  with  this 
contest  ?  Has  it  no  concern  in  this  the  greatest 
struggle  into  which  humanity  has  been  and 
is  being  constantly  thrust?  Christianity  has 
never  proclaimed  nor  sustained  a  doctrine  of 
force.  Christ  never  said  by  the  fruits  of 
wealth,  armies  and  power  shall  he  "be  known 
and  his  kingdom  prevail.  The  fighting  man 
never  received  any  endorsement  from  the  Naz- 
arene  in  the  display  of  his  ability  to  de^roy 
his  opponent.  Nietzsche  in  his  "Will  to 
Power"  declared  that  society  would  eventually 
in  its  demand  for  the  rule  of  might,  throw 
over  utterly  all  that  Jesus  taught.  Nietzsche 
and  Treitschke  were  accredited  during  the  war 
with  being  the  instructors  of  Germany  in  the 
philosophy  of  force  and  domination.  Has  their 
philosophy  gone  down  with  the  German  eagle 
or  has  it  hec6me  dominant  in  larger  realms? 
The  very  principles  at  the  basis  of  Christianity 
are  at  stake  in  the  industrial  or  economic  strug- 


188      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

gle  that  is  now  on.  It  is  not  a  partisan  of 
either  side  in  this  conflict,  but  an  antagonist 
to  the  philosophy  and  methods  of  procedure 
of  both  parties.  Christianity  is,  however,  no 
mere  spectator.  It  is  a  greatly  involved  party. 
It  does  not  win  if  either  loses.  It  loses  if 
the  final  battle  is  fought.  Humanity  is  Chris- 
tianity's ward  and  its  protection  and  exaltation 
are  its  real  concern.  The  question  that  is  up- 
permost in  the  mind  of  humanity  is,  has  Chris- 
tianity the  spiritual  power,  the  commanding 
intelligence  and  the  convincing  processes  of 
reasoning  to  reconcile  these  great  social  forces 
and  coordinate  them  for  the  uplift  of  the  world 
and  the  sanctification  of  mankind  ?  This  ques- 
tion answered  in  the  affirmative  will  put  Chris- 
tianity in  power  as  the  peacemaker  of  the 
world. 

There  is  a  zone  between  these  two  great 
massive  forces  over  which  Christianity  should 
be  able  to  sit  supreme.  It  is  the  realm  of 
justice,  moral  purpose,  and  good  will.  In  the 
matter  of  justice  three  parties  are  involved: 
capital,  labor,  the  public.  Neglect  either  and 
justice  fails.  The  way  of  justice  may  be  a 
bit  difficult  to  find  because  of  the  intricacies 
of  the  issues  and  the  limitations  of  the  finding 
intelligence,  but  the  spirit  of  justice  need  never 


ELEVATING  SOCIAL  VALUES         189 

be  absent.  This  Christianity  will  always  sup- 
ply. In  the  matter  of  moral  purpose,  all  ways 
are  parallel,  and  reconciliation  will  be  found 
only  a  station  ahead  if  Christianity  could  put 
capital  and  labor  on  these  tracks.  What  is 
the  moral  purpose  of  capital  and  labor  to-day? 
Are  they  marked  by  moral  integrity  and  char- 
acterized by  moral  earnestness?  Broken 
agreements,  ''scraps  of  paper,"  and  economic 
intrigues  are  never  charged  against  men  whose 
moral  integrity  is  unquestioned  and  whose 
moral  earnestness  is  written  large  in  human 
endeavor.  In  the  matter  of  good  will  the 
three  parties  can  always  find  a  common  plane 
of  explanation,  discussion  and  adjustment  if 
the  Golden  Rule  shall  be  the  guiding  principle 
in  all  deliberations  and  final  conclusions. 
Christianity  asserts  that  social  values  must  not 
be  imperiled  by  unmoral  procedure  and  im- 
moral contentions.  The  basis  of  settlement 
in  every  human  contest  is  in  the  human  values 
which  Jesus  Christ  exalted  as  being  of  more 
worth  than  the  gain  of  "the  whole  world." 
The  voice  of  the  Galilean  who  stilled  the  tur- 
bulent sea  should  be  sounded  over  the  surging 
billows  of  industrial  and  economic  life.  Jesus, 
the  Carpenter,  is  now  needed  at  the  arbitra- 
tion conferences  of  the  world. 


190      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

Heathenism  is  the  provocation  that  sends 
Christianity  to  foreign  lands.  But  heathendom 
is  not  a  place  but  a  state  of  mind  and  life. 
Define  heathenism  as  one  may  and  the  pres- 
ent industrial  state  in  the  supposedly  civilized 
world  cannot  escape  being  classed  as  little 
short  of  heathenish,  and  the  full  development 
is  yet  ahead.  The  only  way  of  deliverance 
from  the  fearful  disaster  that  the  conflict 
is  bringing  upon  the  world  is  the  elevation 
of  social  values  to  their  true  position 
by  the  vigorous  and  burning  proclamation 
of  the  teachings  of  Jesus  Christ.  Industrial 
justice  there  must  be.  Respect  for  economic 
worth  must  never  be  lost.  Capital  and 
labor  are  mighty  forces  but  they  are  not 
ends  in  themselves.  Society  is  the  supreme 
end  of  all  operating  powers.  The  two  great 
forces  are  suffering  to-day  from  the  lack  of 
a  true  perspective,  a  worthy  goal,  a  supreme 
objective  in  the  use  of  their  powers.  These 
only  a  virile,  thorough-going,  masterful 
gospel  will  set  in  bold  relief.  This  is  no 
time  for  shrinking  timidity,  cringing  fear,  and 
apologetic  speech.  The  gospel  that  is  the 
power  of  God  unto  the  salvation  of  society  in 
the  present  state  is  what  is  needed  in  every 
public  place  and  hidden  nook  on  this  earth. 


ELEVATING  SOCIAL  VALUES         191 

It  is  absurd  to  speak  of  making  the  world 
Christian  with  the  state  of  the  industrial  mind 
as  it  is.  It  is  playing  with  destiny  to  shout 
curses  upon  the  childish  aberrations  of  the 
thoughtless  and  keep  silent  in  the  presence  of 
the  prodigious  willful  sinners  against  the  high- 
est interests  of  society.  The  Kingdom  of  God 
can  come  only  as  society  shall  own  the  sov- 
ereignty of  the  Almighty. 

The  gospel  that  lifts  capital  and  labor  to 
a  new  moral  level  is  the  gospel  that  will  recon- 
cile their  differences  and  direct  their  powers 
to  the  consummation  of  the  purposeful  ends 
of  society.  The  piratical  acquisition  of  wealth, 
whether  on  some  Treasure  Island,  or  wrecked 
shipping,  or  from  some  land  of  the  Incas,  or 
from  foreign  gold  mines  or  oil  fields,  or  from 
some  bold  exploitation  of  common  society,  will 
leave  about  that  wealth  something  of  the 
pirate's  spirit.  The  pirate  should  now  be  re- 
placed by  the  producer.  Men  must  be  taught 
the  fine  distinction  between  the  production  of 
wealth  and  its  acquisition.  They  need  to  learn 
the  difference  between  the  exhaustion  of  nat- 
ural resources  and  their  development.  There 
must  be  found  and  recognized  the  divide  be- 
tween an  accumulation  which  enriches  and  that 
which  exhausts  man's  abode.     The  world  is 


192     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

not  the  possession  of  this  generation  and  no 
man  has  the  moral  right  to  impoverish  pos- 
terity to  satiate  his  whims  for  an  hour.  The 
individual  must  learn  just  how  far  his  owner- 
ship extends  and  recognize  the  limits  to  his 
rights  in  what  he  seems  to  possess.  There  is 
a  wealth  which  civilization  may  acquire 
through  the  possessions  of  men,  and  this  be- 
comes the  heritage  of  the  race.  Christianity 
has  no  more  important  responsibility  than  this 
of  making  the  proper  appraisement  of  ma- 
terial wealth,  putting  in  bold  outline  the  mean- 
ing and  purpose  of  earthly  possessions,  and 
clearly  indicating  the  manner  in  which  such 
wealth  is  to  be  used  in  the  establishment  and 
furtherance  of  the  Kingdom  of  God.  The 
gospel  of  wealth  is  a  gospel  of  power,  as  it 
puts  the  sinews  of  effectiveness  into  the  pur- 
poses of  righteousness  and  brings  the  world 
of  resources  under  the  sovereignty  of  the  Lord 
of  heaven. 

The  power  and  prestige  of  wealth  have 
awakened  the  ancient  realms  to  a  new  thirst 
for  its  possession.  The  magic  word  in  all 
languages  is  "business."  Commercial  prowess 
has  assumed  first  place  in  the  ambition  of  the 
nations.  The  wealth  of  the  world,  at  the  open- 
ing of  the  Great  War,  was  increasing  at  a 


ELEVATING  SOCIAL  VALUES         193 

prodigious  rate,  and  since  the  war  every  plan 
has  been  constructed  for  amassing  anew  great 
national  fortunes.  The  gospel  for  an  age  of 
prosperity  has  again  become  more  needful  than 
the  gospel  for  a  period  of  adversity  and  sor- 
rows. Already  the  loss  of  life  in  the  war, 
reaching  into  great  millions,  has  become  sec- 
ond in  thought  to  the  loss  of  wealth.  In  fact, 
the  loss  of  life  has  itself  come  to  be  estimated 
in  the  loss  of  wealth  which  it  entails.  Money 
madness  is  the  malignant  malady  of  this  gen- 
eration irrespective  of  locality  or  nationality. 
**Is  there  no  balm  in  Gilead;  is  there  no  physi- 
cian there?"  The  love  of  money  has  indeed 
become  the  root  of  all  the  world's  evil.  Has 
Christianity  the  power  to  make  the  use  of 
money  the  source  and  agent  of  the  world's 
highest  good?  Only  the  Christian  principles 
of  stewardship  will  save  humanity  with  its  ac- 
cumulated wealth  and  stored-up  energy  from 
final  destruction.  Christianity  only  can  put 
social  value  upon  human  wealth.  Selfish  ac- 
cumulators and  even  selfish  producers  will 
never  find  the  social  purpose  of  all  possessions. 
Social  purpose  is  moral  at  its  basis  and  has 
the  social  good  as  its  end.  Wealth  in  its 
finality  is  a  social  value  and  not  individual. 
It  will  be  elevated  to  its  true  sphere  only  as 


194      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

it  takes  on  moral  significance  and  is  supported 
by  moral  motives.  This  will  come  only  as 
religion  controls  the  centers  of  human  power 
and  directs  the  endeavors  of  human  spirits. 


Ill 

Trade  is  primarily  a  social  act,  as  through 
it  is  accomplished  that  exchange  of  commodi- 
ties which  is  indispensable  to  the  sustenance 
of  the  life  of  humanity  in  all  parts  of  the 
world.  It  is  socially  based  upon  the  funda- 
mental virtues  of  honesty,  faith  in  the  fellow 
man,  and  conscientious  regard  for  the  needs 
of  the  race.  Local  barter  of  man  with  man 
may  be  a  matter  of  wits  and  keenness  in  driv- 
ing a  bargain,  but  the  great  trade  of  the  world 
must  be  pitched  upon  the  plane  of  confidence, 
straightforward  dealing,  and  unquestionable 
reliability.  Traders  in  a  Syrian  bazaar  in  the 
city  of  Damascus  enjoy  the  mental  gymnas- 
tics involved  in  their  scales  of  askings  and  tak- 
ings. The  sellers  and  the  buyers  in  Benares 
on  the  Ganges,  in  Cairo  on  the  Nile,  or  in 
modern  Jerusalem,  seem  to  the  Christian 
trader  utterly  void  of  conscience  in  the  matter 
of  trade.  The  Japanese,  in  the  opening  days 
of  his  international  commercial  career,  non- 


ELEVATING  SOCIAL  VALUES  195 

plused  the  commercial  world  by  his  utter  un- 
reliability in  abiding  by  a  trade  when  the 
tide  went  against  him.  He  soon  found, 
however,  that  there  were  substantial  principles 
which  must  be  observed  if  he  were  to  continue 
in  the  markets.  Nothing  was  more  interesting 
to  me  than  to  find  in  Kobe,  thirteen  years  ago, 
a  Christian  American  lecturing  in  English  to 
a  class  of  three  hundred  students  in  a  school 
of  commerce  on  the  moral  principles  of  busi- 
ness. The  unreliability  of  the  Japanese  in 
abiding  by  a  commercial  contract  gave  rise 
to  an  unfounded  and  false  statement  that  has 
had  great  currency,  that  even  in  their  own 
banks  the  Japanese  were  so  unreliable  that 
foreigners  had  to  be  employed  to  handle 
the  money.  The  Japanese  has  learned 
this  lesson  of  the  nations  as  he  has  learned 
many  others,  and  is  to-day  a  splendid  business 
man. 

The  Chinese  have  been  a  trading  people 
through  the  centuries.  They  were  the  world's 
first  bankers.  Their  commercial  organizations 
are  the  most  complete  of  any  on  earth.  They 
compelled  honesty  by  the  penalty  of  commer- 
cial ostracism  which  would  mean  economic 
ruin.  Integrity  was  not  a  moral  virtue  but 
a  business  necessity.    The  Jew  for  many  cen- 


196      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

turies  has  been  a  trader,  but  in  the  recent  eras 
he  has  not  commanded  the  big  markets.  His 
principles  of  dealing  are  known  to  be  largely 
of  the  oriental  type,  although  relations  to  world 
trade  have  stabilized  in  large  measure  his 
methods.  The  characteristics  of  trade  vary 
with  the  character  of  the  business  that  is  be- 
ing done. 

American  trade  has  the  reputation  of  being 
honest,  reliable  and  serviceable.  The  Ameri- 
can article  is  usually  taken  anywhere  in  the 
world  at  what  is  claimed  for  it  by  the  seller. 
The  American  business  man  has  been  looked 
upon  as  straightforward,  conscientious  and 
trustworthy.  He  is  direct  in  his  methods  and 
outspoken  in  his  dealings.  However,  this  must 
be  said;  during  the  war  and  the  immediate 
post-war  period  this  good  reputation  has  suf- 
fered at  the  hands  of  American  business  men 
who  were  lamentably  lacking  in  the  American 
character  and  principles.  Many  of  these  were 
not  of  Christian  birth  or  training,  and  many 
spoke  the  English  language  with  a  strong  for- 
eign accent.  Substitutions  were  common  and 
cancellations  were  frequent.  Perhaps  never 
in  the  last  fifty  years  of  American  business, 
even  in  the  United  States,  has  there  been  such 
an  exhibition  of  moral  obliquity  in  trade  as 


ELEVATING  SOCIAL  VALUES         197 

in  the  last  two  years.  South  America,  though 
outrageously  guilty  in  its  own  name,  has  been 
amazed  by  this  deterioration  of  the  American 
moral  character  in  business.  To  be  sure  this 
is  a  fleeting  irregularity,  but  its  moral  effect 
is  most  injurious  and  cannot  be  immediately 
eradicated.  But  it  has  thoroughly  demon- 
strated the  utter  necessity  of  moral  integrity 
in  business  if  commerce  is  to  be  carried  on  in 
world  proportions  and  by  world  facilities.  The 
truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth,  without  ex- 
aggerations or  embellishments,  must  charac- 
terize all  representations  of  goods.  The  falsi- 
fier in  advertising  or  representing  his  wares 
is  a  thief  in  ambush  and  should  be  subject  to 
prosecution  for  attempted  felony.  The  trader 
who  in  foreign  commerce  maliciously  substi- 
tutes one  article  for  another  to  the  hurt  of 
his  customer  is  an  offender  against  two  na- 
tions and  should  be  subject  to  prosecution 
under  international  law  through  proper  diplo- 
matic procedure.  In  no  other  way  can  the 
good  name  of  a  trading  nationality  be  kept 
unsullied  before  the  world.  Trade  is  not  an 
individual  but  a  social  value  and  its  safeguard- 
ing should  be  a  social  responsibility.  The  pro- 
visions for  its  protection  should  cover  local, 
provincial,  national  and  international  condi- 


198      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

tions  and  be  entirely  adequate  to  insure  virtue 
in  every  branch  of  business. 

Commerce  has  not  always  had  high  moral 
ideals  in  what  it  takes  to  a  foreign  people  or 
in  the  representatives  who  introduce  the  com- 
modities. What  a  country's  trade  does  and 
the  agents  by  which  it  is  done  are  looked  upon 
as  representative  of  that  country.  The  Amer- 
ican brand  on  intoxicants,  narcotics,  firearms, 
cinematic  materials  ally  Christian  America 
with  all  that  that  commerce  does.  The 
drunken  sailors  from  an  American  warship 
in  a  foreign  port,  the  scurrilous  dealings  of 
an  American  trader,  the  reckless  conduct  of 
an  American  representative  are  chargeable  to 
Christian  America.  The  Christian  missionary 
is  not  infrequently  almost  alone  in  his  repre- 
sentation of  the  fine  idealism,  splendid  Chris- 
tian character,  and  noble  aspirations  of  the 
American  people  before  a  non-Christian  or 
semi-Christian  public.  Christianity  in  recent 
years  has  found  one  of  its  greatest  obstacles 
in  the  un- Christian  conduct  and  attitude  of 
commercial  representatives  of  American  and 
European  countries. 

Commerce  frequently  loses  a  great  oppor- 
tunity to  serve  itself,  its  country,  and  its  high- 
est purposes  by  failing  to  make  its  labors  in 


ELEVATING  SOCIAL  VALUES         199 

foreign  lands  Christian  as  well  as  financial. 
Central  Africa  and  many  of  the  Asiatic 
Islands  have  become  Mohammedan  under  the 
missionary  labors  of  Mohammedan  business 
men.  They  go  on  long  itineraries  of  trade  but 
they  never  lose  the  higher  objective  of  bring- 
ing the  people  to  the  worship  of  their  God 
through  their  own  prophet.  AVhy  should  men 
of  business  support  missionaries,  and  business 
itself  not  be  missionary?  Commerce  also  finds 
in  its  own  country  the  representatives  of  great 
foreign  firms  whose  knowledge  of  Christianity 
is  nigh  unto  naught.  Christianity  has  at  its 
doors  the  very  men  that  should  eventually  be 
its  chief  exponents  in  foreign  regions  and  will 
be  recreant  to  a  sacred  trust  if  it  does  not 
earnestly  seek  them.  Commerce  owes  the 
Christian  missionary  a  great  debt  as  its  path- 
maker.  It  should  be  indeed  to-day  the  joy- 
ous and  efficient  handmaiden  of  religion  in 
its  efforts  to  Christianize  the  world.  Chris- 
tianity has  no  greater  open  channel  to  man- 
kind than  this  which  commerce  offers,  and  it 
should  not  be  slow  to  possess  it  every  whit. 
The  fundamental  principles  of  genuine  busi- 
ness are  moral,  and  root  themselves  in  re- 
ligious conceptions.  With  commerce  Chris- 
tianized, fleet  messengers  of  Christian  civihza- 


.^00     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

tion,  thought  and  life  would  be  shuttling  the 
world.  In  the  major  points  of  missionary 
strategy  commerce  is  prominent.  It  is  a  great 
main  artery  of  social  relations  which  Christ 
should  control.  Commerce,  thinking  Chris- 
tian, would  lift  trade  to  the  first  rank  as  a 
major  missionary  agency. 


IV 

Wealth  and  commerce  are  the  two  well- 
recognized  arms  of  social  power  in  the  world 
to-day,  but  they  owe  their  existence  and  sup- 
port to  the  third  and  greater,  which  is  labor. 
Labor  is  the  primary  productive  force  with- 
out which  society  would  fail,  and  in  proportion 
to  which  all  social  values  are  developed  and 
exalted.  By  labor  is  generally  meant  physical 
toil,  or  muscular  effort  directed  to  some  use- 
ful end,  but  in  reality  it  should  include  all 
intellectual  exertion  as  well.  Through  the 
newly  developed  industrial  mind  it  has  come 
to  be  looked  upon  as  a  commodity  to  be  bought 
and  sold,  and  that  irrespective  of  its  human 
basis.  In  the  opening  of  the  Christian  era 
physical  labor  was  held  in  disrepute  and  only 
befitting  slaves.  This  conception  has  lingered, 
in  some  measure,  with  the  inheritors  of  that  old 


ELEVATING  SOCIAL  VALUES         201 

Mediterranean  civilization,  and  to-day  is  an 
obstacle  in  the  industrial  development  of  the 
countries  which  they  dominate.  The  same 
view  prevails  in  almost  the  entire  non-Chris- 
tian world.  Christianity  has  strenuously  en- 
deavored to  lift  labor  to  the  dignity  of  life 
expression  and  remove  from  it  all  stigma  of 
life  repression  and  the  sense  of  social  bond- 
age. The  entire  theory  or  conception  of  labor 
as  a  commodity  should  be  utterly  annihilated 
along  with  every  other  slavery-produced  idea. 
Labor  is  and  should  be  the  free  expression 
of  one's  obligation  to  society  and  the  accepted 
mode  of  one's  service  to  the  commjanity  of 
man.  Society  is  a  fellowship  of  values,  and 
every  man  is  social  just  to  the  extent  of  his 
contribution  to  the  common  fund  through 
which  the  exchange  of  values  is  made.  Service 
to  humanity  should  be  the  high  controlling  in- 
centive in  human  labor. 

Where  society  has  not  come  to  a  moral  basis 
nor  acquired  a  moral  perspective,  labor  has 
not  assumed  the  dignity  of  life  expression.  In 
fact,  where  life  itself  has  not  been  lifted  to 
that  high  moral  plane  which  a  genuine  religion 
of  personality  would  establish,  labor  is  re- 
garded as  the  necessity  of  the  incompetent, 
the  curse  of  the  lowly  born.    This  accounts  in 


202      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

no  small  degree  for  the  economic  inefficiency 
of  non-Christian  peoples.  In  others  the  lack 
of  the  spur  of  necessity  and  uncertainty  has 
allowed  wantonness  and  indifference  to  labor. 
In  the  great  oriental  countries  the  laborers 
are  noted  for  their  patience,  persistence  and 
endurance,  but  the  output  of  their  toil  is  piti- 
fully small.  They  have  very  little  command 
over  natural  forces ;  their  tools  are  crude ;  their 
methods  are  primitive  and  their  products  are 
meager.  Fifteen  years  ago  Tokio  had  forty 
thousand  jinrikisha  men;  practically  all  the 
transportation  and  transfer  work  of  the  city 
was  done  by  human  labor  without  horses  or 
drays  of  any  kind.  Man  for  centuries  has 
been  the  draft  horse  of  Japan.  In  Nikko  I 
saw  forty  men  drawing  on  a  two-wheeled  cart 
up  a  steep  hill  a  seven  thousand  pound  dy- 
namo to  be  installed  in  a  hotel.  In  India  a 
family  may  have  a  half-dozen  servants  but  they 
will  not  do  more  than  a  single  good  servant 
of  the  old  type  in  an  American  home.  A  brick- 
layer in  the  United  States  will  lay  two  or  three 
times  as  many  bricks  in  a  day  as  will  the  aver- 
age bricklayer  in  Brazil.  In  all  these  non- 
Christian  and  semi-Christian  countries  indo- 
lence, or  crudeness  of  implements,  or  primi- 
tiveness  of  methods  produce  an  incompetency, 


ELEVATING  SOCIAL  VALUES         203 

an  economic  inefficiency,  which  retards  prog- 
ress and  commits  the  people  to  a  low  standard 
of  living  and  social  relations. 

The  work  of  Christianity  is  to  help  ease 
the  pressure  that  bears  men  down  and  increase 
the  forces  that  bear  men  up.  Lord  Bacon 
once  spoke  of  the  end  of  knowledge  as  *'the 
glory  of  God  and  the  relief  of  man's  estate." 
Surely  Christianity  could  have  nothing  less. 
The  relief  of  man's  estate  has  directed  the  mis- 
sionary in  his  and  her  labors.  They  have  em- 
phasized the  dignity  of  labor  and  taught  the 
most  approved  methods  in  agriculture,  carpen- 
try, masonry  and  bricklaying,  and  the  gentler 
arts  of  drawing,  sewing,  cooking  and  other 
domestic  labors.  The  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  has  recently  invested  about  $300,000 
in  a  great  farm  in  the  valley  of  Chili  to  dem- 
onstrate to  that  people,  and  other  South 
Americans,  what  may  be  accomplished  by  mod- 
ern scientific  farming.  Industrial  classes 
have  been  inaugurated  and  technical  schools 
to  the  number  of  three  hundred  have  been 
established  in  all  parts  of  the  world  by  Chris- 
tian missionaries  to  give  to  the  people  new 
conceptions  of  industry  and  new  leaders  for 
their  material  development.  Large  areas  of 
the  earth  are  lost  to  swamps  that  could  be 


204>      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

drained,  and  even  larger  domains  are  now 
desolate  because  of  lack  of  rainfall  that  could 
be  made  wonderfully  productive  by  possible 
irrigation.  Christianity  is  vitally  concerned 
for  the  productivity  of  the  earth  because  the 
populations  are  becoming  crowded  in  some 
countries  where  the  present  capacity  of  pro- 
duction is  limited;  and  human  competency  de- 
pends upon  adequate  nourishment.  Men  must 
also  be  raised  to  a  new  level  of  wants  in  order 
to  new  assertiveness.  It  is  not  so  much  what 
the  human  body  consumes  but  what  the  human 
life  in  its  best  expression  calls  for  that  de- 
termines the  worth  of  society.  Only  the  capa- 
bilities for  self-sustenance  linked  with  the  as- 
pirations of  self-development  give  hope  for  so- 
cial efficiency.  Christianity,  by  its  creative 
power,  will  set  in  action  the  forces  that  re- 
deem waste  places,  that  produce  adequate 
capabilities,  and  that  will  inspire  to  that  intel- 
ligent and  constructive  effort  that  is  necessary 
to  elevate  the  very  quality  of  human  living. 


Christianity  to-day  is  vividly  mindful  that 
the  challenge  of  the  world  is  to  such  a  recon- 
struction  of   society    and   its    institutions    as 


ELEVATING  SOCIAL  VALUES         205 

will  harmonize  them  with  the  high  ideals  which 
it  has  always  acclaimed.  Religion  does  take 
hold  on  the  imagination  by  its  mystic  hopes, 
and  that  strongly,  but  it  makes  its  greatest 
appeal  to  reason  through  its  expressions  of 
substantial  social  values.  The  Christian  prop- 
agandist who  seeks  to  lay  an  enduring  founda- 
tion for  the  Christian  structure  must  endeavor 
to  possess  those  social  institutions  through 
which  human  life  comes  to  its  most  evident, 
complete,  and  continued  expression.  Among 
these  may  be  reckoned  the  school,  the  family 
and  the  government. 

Education  is  a  process  of  the  intelligent 
transformation  of  society.  The  spirit  of  real 
learning  is  the  spirit  of  freedom.  The  restless- 
ness in  India  to-day  is  due  to  the  large  num- 
ber of  highly  educated  men  that  the  English 
schools  of  the  country  have  produced.  Their 
intelligence  demands  a  progress  which  they  be- 
lieve their  country  is  not  having  under  the 
existing  conditions  and  they  seek  the  employ- 
ment of  those  methods  and  agencies  which  have 
proven  productive  of  vast  development  in  other 
countries.  The  place  of  the  school  in  the  ut- 
ter transformation  of  Germany  in  a  quarter 
of  a  century  has  been  powerfully  demon- 
strated. The  Japanese  in  two  generations  have 


206      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

passed  from  the  most  thoroughgoing  feudal- 
ism to  modern  conditions  of  civilization.  A 
people  formerly  negligible  and  considered  un- 
fit for  association  with  Western  nations  has 
leaped  at  a  bound  to  a  place  of  equality  as 
a  great  world  power  among  the  leading  nations 
of  the  earth.  The  process  of  this  achievement 
has  unquestionably  been  that  of  education. 
What  has  been  in  this  way  accomplished  is 
possible  to  all  peoples.  The  school  is  an  out- 
standing social  factor  which  Christianity  must 
look  to  as  its  agent  for  elevating  all  social 
values.  But  a  system  of  inferior  Christian 
schools  will  unavoidably  mean  that  Christianity 
itself  would  be  brought  by  them  under  re- 
proach. But  when  it  is  remembered  that  the 
graduates  of  Robert  College  wrote  the  consti- 
tution of  Bulgaria,  that  the  graduates  of 
Beirut  College  are  in  responsible  positions, 
political,  educational,  professional  and  com- 
mercial, throughout  the  Levant,  that  the 
makers  of  the  new  China  were  graduates  of 
Christian  schools,  that  the  literature  of  Japan 
has  become  Christian  in  ideals  and  atmosphere, 
it  is  clear  what  may  be  accomplished  in  trans- 
forming and  exalting  social  values  in  accord- 
ance with  the  principles  of  Christianity  in  a 
short  period  by  great  educational  institutions 


ELEVATING  SOCIAL  VALUES         207 

that  are  thoroughly  Christian.  The  Christian 
Church  has  no  greater  responsibility  than 
this  of  Christianizing  the  entire  educational 
system  of  the  whole  world.  The  school 
should  be  lifted  to  the  plane  of  the  Christian 
ideal. 

But  of  all  social  institutions  none  perhaps 
is  so  distinctively  Christian  as  the  home.  It 
does  not  exist  among  non-Christian  peoples 
and  no  word  connoting  the  conception  is  to  be 
found  in  their  languages.  In  India,  with  all 
its  ancient  culture,  the  wife  is  in  the  zenana,  liv- 
ing in  her  domicile  away  from  her  master. 
In  the  near  East  the  mother  and  daughters 
do  not  live  in  the  house  with  the  father  and 
sons.  The  social  meal,  with  all  members  of 
the  family  at  the  board,  as  is  the  rule  in  all 
distinctly  Christian  countries,  is  not  known  in 
the  non-Christian  lands.  The  home  circle  is 
a  Christian  creation  and  home  itself  is  a  Chris- 
tian conception.  Christianity  elevates  the 
marital  relation  to  a  new  level  and  thereby 
puts  the  family  upon  a  new  basis.  At  least 
one  third  of  all  the  people  in  the  world  live 
in  a  polygamous  society.  Polygamy  and  con- 
cubinage characterized  all  wild  tribes,  whether 
in  Africa  or  America,  as  they  do  the  historic 
civilizations  of  China  and  India,  the  Moham- 


208     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

medan  world  and  non-Christian  peoples  gener- 
ally. Christianity  can  countenance  none  of 
it,  and  wherever  its  light  is  shed  the  sense  of 
the  unrighteousness  of  this  custom  is  created 
and  soon  leads  to  abandonment.  The  ques- 
tion arises,  can  a  people  be  made  truly  Chris- 
tian and  retain  a  polygamous  society?  Does 
not  the  gospel  of  Christ  demand  the  eradica- 
tion of  polygamy  and  concubinage?  Can  the 
gospel  be  truly  preached  with  the  home,  the 
faithful  marital  life,  and  the  virtues  of  the 
home  relations  ignored  ?  The  answers  to  these 
questions  cannot  be  in  doubt.  Personal  re- 
ligion, if  genuine,  will  manifest  itself  quickly 
in  the  family  life.  By  it  man's  attitude  to- 
ward his  wife  and  children,  his  parents  and 
his  brothers  and  sisters,  to  all  members  of 
his  family,  will  be  lifted  to  a  splendid  height 
of  consideration  and  affection.  The  home  in 
the  Christian  system  is  the  one  institution  that 
administers  to  the  nurture  of  the  highest  vir- 
tues of  the  individual  and  the  race.  The  world 
cannot  be  made  Christian  without  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  Christian  home,  nor  can  it  be 
kept  Christian  if  the  home  is  allowed  to  de- 
teriorate in  conceptions,  in  virtue,  and  its  min- 
istrations to  the  family. 

The  center  of  the  home  is  woman,  the  wife. 


ELEVATING  SOCIAL  VALUES         209 

the  mother,  the  sister,  the  friend.  She  has 
in  her  keeping  the  timeless  interests  of  the 
race.  The  welfare  of  mankind  is  largely  in 
her  hands  because  of  her  influence  upon  the 
mind  of  the  young.  There  is  a  deep  mystery 
over  the  law  of  heredity,  but  woman  is  the 
medium  through  which  social  inheritance  is 
transmitted  to  the  new  generation.  The  power 
of  the  future  is  locked  up  in  the  influences 
which  woman,  by  the  endowments  of  mother- 
hood, shall  exert.^  Christianity  has  recognized 
this  mysterious  fact  of  human  life  and  has 
placed  a  valuation  on  woman  which  no  non- 
Christian  religion  even  allowed.  Woman  has 
worth,  to  be  sure,  in  her  individuality  equal 
to  that  of  man's,  but  her  worth  as  the  medium 
for  transmitting  a  social  inheritance,  a  social 
ideal,  is  even  greater.  Woman  has  a  capacity 
for  emotion  which  gives  her  unmeasured  power 
in  effecting  the  majesty  of  the  race.  Her  per- 
sonality is  peculiarly  endowed  for  social  vision 
through  long  stretches  of  time  which  make  for 
the  preservation  of  the  future  of  civilization. 
Christianity  has  made  always  for  the  establish- 
ment of  woman  in  her  true  place.  In  all  non- 
Christian  lands  and  in  all  ages  the  status  of 
woman  has  been  and  is  low.  Not  infrequently 
she  is  treated  as  a  chattel  and  almost  always 


210      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

is  made  the  victim  of  cruelty  and  lust.  In 
the  more  primitive  and  barbaric  tribes  she  is 
the  heavy  burden  bearer  and  the  slave  of 
drudgery.  It  is  only  in  highly  Christianized 
countries  that  society  protects  her  from  galling 
labor  and  the  conditions  of  toil  that  may  be 
disastrous  to  the  high  social  interests  of  which 
she  is  the  heaven-endowed  custodian.  Recent 
years  have  witnessed  a  marvelous  recognition 
of  the  rights  and  powers  of  the  race  in  woman, 
and  the  immense  reconstruction  of  the  proc- 
esses of  society  in  order  to  call  into  action  those 
qualities  of  mankind  which  woman  represents. 
It  is  not  a  matter  simply  of  giving  women 
certain  prerogatives  and  responsibilities  which 
will  put  her  on  a  par  with  man.  It  is  a  matter 
of  relating  woman,  the  molder  of  social  des- 
tiny, adequately  to  social  values,  that  some- 
how in  that  mysterious  impressionist  manner 
she  may  become  the  better  transmitter  of  the 
full  social  inheritance  which  the  future  genera- 
tions require  for  the  larger  development. 
Woman  is  the  supreme  social  organism.  Neg- 
lect of  woman  can  result  only  in  the  retarda- 
tion of  human  development.  Man  has  always 
received  the  best  equipment  available  to  fight 
the  battle  of  life.  It  has  not  always  been 
realized  that  woman  needs  equally  as  great 


ELEVATING  SOCIAL  VALUES         211 

equipment  to  fight  the  battle  of  social  heredity. 
Elevating  woman  is  not  merely  elevating  an 
individual;  it  is  elevating  a  primary  social 
value. 

Woman's  estate  in  any  country  is  a  fair  in- 
dex to  the  character  of  the  religious  life  in  that 
country.  Only  religion  deals  with  ultimate 
realities  and  keeps  open  the  door  to  the  fu- 
ture. Where  religion  is  low  that  door  stands 
but  slightly  ajar,  and  there  woman  sits  in  the 
shadows.  Christianity  only  has  grasped  the 
meaning  of  woman  to  the  race  and  the  King- 
dom of  God,  and  opened  the  ways  for  her  ele- 
vation and  sanctification.  To-day  in  the  most 
advanced  Christian  lands  woman  is  having  her 
opportunity  with  man,  and  more,  for  that 
higher  development  which  her  social  responsi- 
bility to  humanity  requires.  This  opportunity 
Christianity  would  put  at  the  command  of 
every  woman  in  the  world. 

The  Christian  home  established  by  the  mis- 
sionary with  the  Christian  wife  and  mother  at 
its  heart  is  the  center  of  the  remarkable  revo- 
lutions which  are  being  started  in  the  thoughts 
and  habits  of  mankind.  This  fact  gives  force 
to  the  statement  of  Rauschenbusch  that  "A 
celibate  minister  is  more  efficient  for  the 
church;  a  married  minister  of  more  service  to 


212      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

the  Kingdom  of  God."  The  Christian  family- 
is  the  revolutionizing  Christian  force.  After 
seeing  the  Christian  woman,  refined  and  capa- 
ble, the  Chinese  woman  no  longer  considers  it 
good  form  to  hobble  on  crippled  feet  to  satisfy 
the  whims  of  long  centuries  in  the  bindings 
that  supposedly  contributed  to  gentility. 
Wife-bargaining  is  passing  as  Christians  have 
impressed  people  with  the  reasonableness  and 
right  of  personal  choice  in  life-mating.  The 
wail  of  illiteracy  becomes  bitter  as  womanly 
intelligence  in  the  missionary  adorns  society 
and  elevates  home  companionship.  Woman 
has  already  demonstrated  in  non-Christian 
lands  her  capacity  to  appreciate  Christian 
ideals,  to  comprehend  Christian  conceptions, 
and  to  enter  fully  into  Christian  experience. 
She  is  fast  becoming  the  hope  of  transmitting 
to  the  oncoming  generations  the  Christian 
mind  and  the  aptitudes  for  Christianization 
processes.  When  the  world  becomes  Christian 
it  w^iil  be  found  that  woman  has  been  the 
medium  of  revelation  and  of  its  redemption. 
Her  social  relation  to  the  race  in  the  capacity 
of  motherhood,  of  custodian  and  trainer  of 
childhood,  and  of  conveyor  of  the  emotional 
power  of  mankind  must  be  regarded  always 
as  a   supreme   objective  in  the  program   of 


ELEVATING  SOCIAL  VALUES         213 

world  Christianization.  The  home  is  the  pre- 
eminent sphere  of  woman's  best  expression  of 
herself  and  highest  influence  on  the  race,  and 
as  such  must  be  looked  upon  as  having  pri- 
mary value  for  the  Kingdom  of  God.  The 
family  is  the  unit  in  the  development  of  man- 
kind, and  its  redemption,  preservation  and 
sanctification  are  essential  to  the  consumma- 
tion of  the  ulterior  purpose  of  Christianity. 
The  elevation  of  these  values  throughout  the 
world  to  the  Christian  standards  is  absolutely 
essential  to  making  this  world  Christian. 


yi 

Along  with  the  family  and  the  school  as 
social  institutions  of  vast  possibilities  for  the 
Kingdom  of  God  must  be  placed  the  govern- 
ment, the  voice  of  authority  in  society.  By 
nothing  are  the  spirit,  force,  intelligence,  pur- 
pose and  progress  of  a  people  more  effectively 
displayed  than  by  the  character  of  govern- 
ment which  it  supports  or  tolerates.  The  de- 
velopments in  government  during  the  last  half- 
century  have  been  truly  marvelous,  and  espe- 
cially so  in  those  countries  where  Christian 
missions  have  been  most  active.  The  first  mis- 
sionaries in  the  non-Christian  countries  found 


214      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

usually  the  government  of  an  autocratic  per- 
sonal ruler,  whose  decisions  accorded  more 
often  with  his  own  whims,  or  caprice,  or  the 
size  of  a  bribe,  than  with  the  demands  of  jus- 
tice. From  the  magistrate  to  the  viceroy  this 
was  the  rule.  In  some  instances  in  these  coun- 
tries, and  even  in  semi-Christian  countries,  the 
bureaucratic  oligarchy  was  in  power  and  the 
theory  of  government  was  that  of  exploitation 
in  the  interests  of  the  ruling  class.  The  well- 
being  of  the  people  was  a  matter  of  minor 
importance.  Corruption  and  inefficiency  char- 
acterized such  government,  and  do  so  to-day. 
This  is  the  trouble  with  China,  the  old  Turkish 
empire,  Persia,  and  Central  Asia.  Korea  went 
down  under  the  weight  of  a  most  corrupt  gov- 
ernment, while  the  downfall  of  the  Manchu 
Dynasty  is  largely  attributable  to  its  corrup- 
tion. The  oligarchies  in  the  South  American 
republics  exploit  their  countries  and  are  open 
to  the  charges  of  corruption  in  politics  and 
inefficiency  in  public  service.  The  history  of 
the  other  Latin  American  nations,  large  and 
small,  is  a  story  of  shameful  exploitation.  Po- 
litical revolutions  are  as  often  traceable  to  the 
ambitions  of  loot  gatherers  in  public  office  as 
to  real  sentiments  of  genuine  patriotism.  How 
far  below  real  Christian  ideals  of  government 


ELEVATING  SOCIAL  VALUES         215 

these  nations  fall  may  be  seen  in  the  statement 
by  that  great  Christian  statesman,  Thomas  R. 
Marshall,  made  upon  his  retirement  from  the 
vice  presidency  of  the  United  States :  "  A  gov- 
ernment dedicated  to  the  inalienable  rights  of 
man  to  life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happi- 
ness, can  find  its  perfect  accomplishment  only 
in  republics  brave  and  strong  enough  to  rise 
above  the  ambitions,  passions,  and  prejudices 
of  individuals  and  groups.  Representative 
government  was  intended  to  guarantee  these 
inalienable  rights  of  man  through  the  enact- 
ment and  enforcement  of  laws  calculated  to 
preserve  and  promote  equal  and  exact  justice 
to  all  men."  What  non-Christian  peoples  ever 
had  a  government  dedicated  "to  the  inaliena- 
ble rights  of  man"?  What  people  will  ever 
become  Christian  that  fail  to  dedicate  them- 
selves, their  lives  and  their  sacred  honors  to 
the  establishment  and  maintenance  of  such  a 
government?  Despotic  autocracies  and  tyran- 
nical oligarchies  and  exploiting  officialdom  can 
never  harmonize  with  genuine  Christianity,  or 
even  show  sympathy  for  its  principles  and 
movements.  They  prefer  depraved  paganism, 
illiterate  superstition,  or  blatant  agnosticism  to 
a  religion  that  lifts  the  ideals  of  "inalienable 
rights  of  man,"  and  that  demands  honesty,  in- 


216     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

tegrity,  and  efficiency  in  public  affairs.  They 
choose  "darkness  rather  than  hght  because 
their  deeds  are  evil,"  and  they  will  not  choose 
otherwise  until  the  impact  of  Christian  civili- 
zation shall  drive  them  from  power  and  en- 
throne other  forces  that  will  have  diligent  re- 
spect to  the  "inalienable  rights  of  man"  and 
the  means  and  processes  of  their  complete  de- 
velopment. There  can  be  no  such  thing  as  a 
virile  Christianity  under  a  corrupt  govern- 
ment, such  as  existed  in  Korea  and  China. 
The  two  are  exclusive  ideas.  Christianity 
makes  for  virtue,  integrity  and  moral  purpose, 
and  government  without  these  recognizes  in 
Christianity  a  dangerous  foe. 

The  world  has  witnessed  in  the  last  two 
decades  a  marvelous  awakening  of  natural  con- 
sciousness among  all  nations  of  Asia.  How 
far  Japan  has  been  the  leader  and  teacher 
could  scarcely  be  said,  but  it  is  true  the  peo- 
ples are  arousing  from  the  long  slumber  and 
asking  for  a  new  evaluation.  The  Great  War 
developed  a  tremendous  expectancy  on  the 
part  of  small  national  groups.  President  Wil- 
son's famous  Fourteen  Points  seemed  a  new 
gospel  to  them,  although  it  contained  no  prin- 
ciples for  which  his  own  nation  had  not  long 
stood.     The  Fourteen  Points  were  not  made 


ELEVATING  SOCIAL  VALUES         217 

effective  because  of  the  inability  of  the  world 
to  take  them  and  incarnate  them.  But  they 
are  on  tables  of  stone  and  will  not  wear  away. 
The  day  of  their  acceptance  and  embodiment 
into  the  framework  of  world  government  will 
inevitably  come.  The  interesting  thing  at  this 
time  is  the  marvelously  sensitive  consciousness 
which  the  nations  possess.  They  are  tired  of 
oligarchies,  big  nation-ism,  world  power  domi- 
nance, and  the  diplomacy  of  spoils-takers. 
They  watch,  as  for  the  morning,  for  the  gleam 
of  a  new  internationalism  under  the  protec- 
tion and  direction  of  a  real  Christianity. 
World-intermingling  through  students,  tour- 
ists, commercialists  and  diplomatists  is  having 
a  miraculous  effect  on  the  consciousness  of 
all  peoples  in  regard  to  their  own  governments. 
They  are  getting  strong  side-lights  on  their 
institutions,  their  liberties  and  their  political 
deficiencies.  The  emigration  of  their  people 
has  established  points  of  contact  with  the  vari- 
ous nations  of  the  earth,  and  especially  of  the 
countries  that  have  made  most  of  their  liberty- 
giving  and  liberty-assuring  governments.  As 
a  result,  governmental  principles  and  practice 
are  in  a  state  of  flux  in  almost  all  nations, 
whether  in  Asia,  Africa,  South  America,  or  the 
settled  countries  of  Europe.     The  period  of 


218      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

reconstruction  and  reconstitution  must  inevi- 
tably ensue. 

That  Christianity  through  its  missionary 
propaganda,  and  through  the  multiplied  con- 
tacts which  it  has  effected,  has  had  tremendous 
influence  in  bringing  about  the  present  state 
of  affairs  can  scarcely  be  controverted.  The 
overwhelming  evidence  which  can  be  adduced 
cannot  fail  to  be  convincing  of  the  fact.  The 
question  is,  what  contribution  has  Christianity 
now  to  make  to  the  necessary  governmental 
reconstruction  of  mankind,  and  what  end  has 
Christianity  to  promote  by  this  reconstruction  ? 
The  question  must  be  answered  and  answered 
unmistakably  if  the  supreme  objective  of  mak- 
ing the  world  Christian  is  achieved.  In  the 
first  place,  Christianity  must  interpret  to  all 
peoples  the  meaning,  purpose  and  end  of  gov- 
ernment. It  must  be  understood  that  missions 
have  no  call  or  purpose  to  dictate  the  forms 
and  instruments  of  government,  nor  to  sit 
in  judgment  upon  those  that  exist.  Christian- 
ity looks  upon  government  as  society's  mode 
of  self-expression  in  its  endeavors  to  attain 
the  great  progressive  objectives  in  human  de- 
velopment. The  redemption,  elevation,  and 
perfecting  of  humanity  is  the  objective  in  all 
social  institutions,  and  government  must  al- 


ELEVATING  SOCIAL  VALUES         219 

ways  be  directed  to  the  consummation  of  that 
end.  The  progress  of  the  race  in  the  consum- 
mation of  these  supreme  objectives  is  tied  up 
with  this  highest  form  of  social  expression. 
Government,  as  the  social  institution  that 
makes  for  the  group  destiny  and  largely  for 
the  individual  development  of  a  people  can  at- 
tain its  supreme  ends  only  as  it  makes  the 
advancement  of  personality  the  determinative 
factor  in  all  efforts  and  movements.  Not 
property  but  personality  is  the  power  of  the 
state.  The  Christian  interpretation  of  the 
meaning,  purpose  and  end  of  government  has 
brought  the  demand  for  liberty,  stabilization 
and  sense  of  security  against  despoiling 
tyrants.  Revolutions  have  resulted  from  the 
germination  of  the  Christian  ideals  of  gov- 
ernment. Christianity  requires  by  its  very 
nature  political  honesty.  President  Cleveland 
expressed  it,  "Public  office  is  a  public  trust." 
Corruption  and  inefficiency  in  government  are 
intolerable  in  the  Christian  regime,  while  auto- 
cratic despotism  and  oligarchical  tyranny  and 
exploitation  are  made  indefensible.  Christian- 
ity makes  the  service  of  humanity  the  control- 
ling national  purpose  and  the  perfecting  of  cit- 
izenship the  primary  patriotic  endeavor. 

The  creative  energy  of  Christianity  is  never 


220      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

more  manifest  than  in  the  remarkable  trans- 
formations which  it  brings  about  in  all  social 
values.  Government,  the  family,  the  home, 
the  state  of  woman,  the  evaluation  of  child- 
hood, the  function  of  the  school,  all  bear  un- 
equivocal evidence  to  the  ennobling  and  up- 
lifting power  which  Christianity  introduces. 
The  world  can  be  made  to  think  and  act  Chris- 
tion  only  as  these  social  values  shall  express 
the  Christian  purpose  and  convey  the  Chris- 
tian power.  The  mission  of  Christianity  is 
to  create  those  conditions  of  the  social  mind 
that  shall  make  normal  in  the  world  the  Christ 
thought  of  humanity,  its  relations  and  its  ac- 
tivities. The  social  ideal,  as  revealed  in 
Christ's  Kingdom  of  God,  no  man  has  a  right 
to  regard  as  unattainable  in  earthly  conditions. 
The  late  Benjamin  Kidd  in  his  "The  Science 
of  Power"  said,  "There  is  not  an  existing  in- 
stitution in  the  world  of  civilized  humanity 
which  cannot  be  profoundly  modified  or  al- 
tered, or  abolished  in  a  generation.  There  is 
no  form  or  order  of  government  or  of  the  do- 
minion of  force  which  cannot  be  removed  out 
of  the  world  within  a  generation.  There  is 
no  ideal  in  conformitjT-  with  the  principles  of 
civilization  dreamed  of  by  any  dreamer  or 
idealist  which  cannot  be  realized  within  the  life- 


ELEVATING  SOCIAL  VALUES         221 

time  of  those  around  him."  In  speaking  of 
civiHzation  he  says:  "Within  the  Hfetime  of  a 
single  generation  it  can  be  made  to  undergo 
changes  so  profound,  so  revolutionary,  so  per- 
manent, that  it  would  almost  appear  as  if  hu- 
man nature  had  been  completely  altered  in  the 
interval." 

Christian  propagandists  need  to  be  brought 
definitelj^  and  forcibly  to  the  conviction  that  the 
social  ideals  of  Christianity  are  possible  of  real- 
ization. They  need  not  be  discouraged  because 
genuine  civilization  has  not  yet  arrived.  Civ- 
ilization awaits  the  very  power  which  Chris- 
tianity with  its  personalism  is  capable  of  pro- 
ducing. The  glorified  savagery  and  individ- 
ualistic supremacy  which  have  characterized 
the  highest  that  has  existed  hitherto  can  be  re- 
tired only  by  the  force  of  commanding  social 
ideals  which  Christianity  inspires  and  supports. 
There  is  limitless  power  in  the  social  relation, 
and  the  question  arises,  shall  Christianity  allow 
this  to  lie  dormant,  or  be  misdirected,  while  the 
world  wallows  in  wanton  willfulness  and  woeful 
waste?  The  emergence  of  the  efficient  individ- 
ual is  always  acclaimed  with  proper  laudation, 
and  Christianity  is  constituted  to  bring  about 
that  emergence,  but  shall  not  the  world  be 
made  expectant  of  the  rise  of  an  efficient  so- 


222      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

ciety,  in  which  the  efficient  individual  shall  find 
full  appointments  for  complete  expression? 
Society  is  as  much,  if  not  more,  under  the  law 
of  heredity  as  the  individual.  Social  ideals  are 
operative  far  beyond  the  reach  of  a  generation. 
They  gather  momentum  not  only  by  the  reason 
that  they  convince,  but  by  the  emotions  which 
they  arouse.  It  has  never  yet  been  decided 
that  the  emotions  were  any  the  less  powerful 
than  reason  in  determining  the  course  of  so- 
ciety. Christianity  is  sovereign  in  that  realm, 
always  making  contribution  of  inspiration,  re- 
finement and  direction.  By  this  fact  its  access 
to  the  institutions  of  society  is  direct  and  com- 
plete. Christianity's  power  of  achievement  in 
the  world  can  never  be  applied  more  effectively 
for  the  consummation  of  its  eternal  and  divine 
purpose  than  through  the  institutions  of  society 
and  the  ideals  which  they  embody. 

The  challenge  of  the  world  is  to  the  forces 
of  Christianity.  Mr.  Kidd  has  declared  that 
"the  science  of  power  in  civilization  is  the  sci- 
ence of  the  passion  for  the  ideal."  Christianity 
creates  social  ideals  that  are  regenerative  of  all 
social  values  and  sustains  the  passion  for  their 
consummation.  Its  capabilities  become  its  con- 
demnation if  social  inefficiency  and  social  de- 
pravity be  allowed  to  continue  and  social  ruin 


ELEVATING  SOCIAL  VALUES         223 

be  permitted  to  ensue.  Christianity  is  forced 
to  accept  the  obligation  to  lift  society  to  its  own 
ideal  or  assume  the  responsibihty  for  the  failure 
and  prostitution  of  civilization.  Well  may  the 
Church  of  God  take  its  stand  this  day  with  the 
Seer  of  Patmos  and  resolutely  declare:  *'The 
kingdoms  of  this  world  shall  become  the  king- 
doms of  Our  Lord  and  His  Christ  and  He  shall 
reign  forever  and  ever." 


LECTURE    V:    VITALIZING    ETHL 
CAL  IDEALS 


Whatever  may  be  true  of  other  religions, 
Christianity  cannot  disengage  itself  from  hu- 
man civilization.  In  fact,  civilization  must 
ever  be  the  direct  aim  and  end  of  all  intelligent 
Christian  effort.  Christianity  sets  a  standard 
for  civilization  as  well  as  for  the  individual  life ; 
wherever  that  standard  is  even  approached  it 
gets  its  strongest  apologetic;  wherever  in  so- 
called  Christian  countries  that  standard  is  neg- 
lected it  has  been  made  to  suffer  blame. 
When  men  said  in  the  last  decade,  "Civiliza- 
tion has  failed,"  they  said  also,  "Christianity 
has  failed."  Christianity's  failure  had  been  in 
its  lack  of  ability  or  effort  to  command  civiliza- 
tion, and  civilization's  failure  had  been  in  its 
ignoring  of  the  principles  which  Christianity 
had  offered.  The  fact  should  now  be  clearly 
and  forcibly  recognized  that  the  Christian  re- 
ligion can  never  be  dominant  except  as  it  com- 
mands the  highways  of  human  movement  and 
development.    Christianity  must  seek  to  con- 

224 


VITALIZING  ETHICAL  IDEALS        225 

trol  with  its  principles  the  environment  in 
which  people  live,  for  human  destiny  here  and 
hereafter  is  vitally  affected  by  the  forces  that 
play  upon  human  life.  The  main  arteries  of 
social  relations  must  be  accepted  as  great  ob- 
jectives in  any  far-reaching  strategy  of  Chris- 
tian propaganda.  The  kingdoms  of  this  world, 
such  as  power,  wealth,  industry,  trade,  human 
life,  the  family,  national  consciousness  and 
government,  should  be  made  the  kingdoms  of 
Our  Lord  and  His  Christ.  The  very  elements 
of  civilization  are  to  be  vitalized  by  Christian 
thought  and  purpose  if  humanity  is  to  be 
caught  up  into  the  intent  of  redemption.  The 
world  has  that  conception  to-day  and  it  will 
not  soon  lay  it  off. 

Christianity  has  been  necessarily  revolution- 
ary in  society,  and  in  the  future  it  must  be  even 
more  so.  It  has  not  taken  over  and  absorbed 
the  forms,  conditions  and  expressions  of  civili- 
zation that  have  developed  under  the  influence 
and  inspiration  of  other  religious  beliefs,  ex- 
cept to  its  own  hurt.  Wherever  the  Church  in 
its  worldly  thirst  for  dominion  has  adopted,  or 
adapted,  entirely  or  in  part,  institutions  from 
paganism  or  semi-paganism,  deterioration  of 
the  Christian  faith  and  experience  has  resulted. 
This  has  been  true  by  its  inclusions  from  Juda- 


226      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

ism,  Hellenism,  ancient  Romanism  and  North 
European  paganism,  and  it  has  been  true  in 
the  modern  era  when  ecclesiastical  dominion 
has  outrun  spiritual  evangelization.  Chris- 
tianity must  grow  the  institutions  and  the 
forms  of  society  through  which  it  is  to  have  its 
fullest  expression.  It  is  no  product  of  eclecti- 
cism, no  composition  of  contributing  faiths, 
no  mechanism  of  harmonizing  religionists. 
Christianity  is  an  organizing  principle,  life- 
giving  and  life-asserting.  It  is  a  growth,  a 
life  development,  of  an  organism  as  the  oak  is 
the  life  expression  of  the  acorn.  As  the  oak 
necessarily  reveals  the  potentialities  of  the 
acorn,  so  the  Christian  civilization  discloses  the 
potentialities  of  the  Christian  life.  Christian- 
ity cannot  now  be  presented  independently  of 
the  Christian  civilization,  or  rather  the  civiliza- 
tion which  has  been  evolved  in  the  atmosphere 
and  by  the  forces  of  the  Christian  faith.  Social 
values  take  on  new  phases  and  new  relations 
with  the  movements  which  it  inspires.  Christi- 
anity could  never  make  itself  known  and  ap- 
preciated except  through  what  its  spirit  and 
purpose  inevitably  produces. 

The  Christian  missionary  is  more,  therefore, 
than  the  exponent  of  a  new  rehgious  belief. 
He  is  the  representative,  the  incarnation,  the 


VITALIZING  ETHICAL  IDEALS       227 

epitome,  and  therefore  the  interpreter  of  a 
new  civilization  and  of  the  sources  from  which 
that  civilization  came.  To  be  sure,  he  goes 
out  to  teach  Christianity  and  to  make  Chris- 
tians of  the  people,  but  his  largest  instructions 
are  in  his  life.  He  interprets  Christianity 
more  by  his  personality  than  by  his  words.  In 
his  personality  he  carries  the  impact  of  his 
country,  his  college,  his  church,  his  nation,  his 
family,  the  society  that  has  produced  him,  and 
for  a  lifetime  he  endeavors  to  put  into  form 
and  actualities  what  he  carries  in  conceptions 
and  impulses.  Personal  religion  cannot  be 
anything  less  than  the  religion  of  a  person  in 
human  relations.  Angels  are  not  qualified  to 
be  missionaries.  If  religion  were  only  a  mat- 
ter of  the  personal  spirit  and  the  heavenly 
world  it  would  seem  that  no  other  beings 
would  be  so  well  qualified,  as  they  know  what 
is  required  and  desired.  But  they  lack  the  hu- 
man relations  and  the  elements  of  life  which 
this  world  has  produced.  Jesus  lived  thirty 
years  in  human  relations  before  entering  upon 
his  mission  of  redemption.  Had  He  need  to 
do  so  ?  He  was  in  a  family ;  a  youth  in  a  neigh- 
borhood ;  a  carpenter  among  laborers ;  a  physi- 
cian among  the  sick;  a  citizen  of  a  govern- 
ment ;  a  member  of  a  race ;  a  man  among  men. 


228      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

He  gave  evidence  that  to  Him  all  these  rela- 
tions were  not  only  important,  but  vital  in  the 
Kingdom  of  God  upon  which  He  laid  His  chief 
emphasis.  Angels  could  not  do  this.  They 
could  talk  only  of  heaven  and  the  virtues  of 
the  redeemed  soul.  The  message  of  the  angel 
is  important;  yea,  essential,  but  the  gospel  of 
human  life  is  the  need  of  the  human  world,  and 
by  the  angels'  message  will  come  to  full 
fruition. 

The  gospel  of  the  human  life  is  the  Chris- 
tian missionary's  offering  to  the  peoples  of 
the  earth.  He  goes  as  the  exponent  of  life  in 
relations  just  as  Christ  revealed  it.  The  lis- 
tening hearts  of  the  race  have  been  awaiting 
anxiously  just  such  gospel  from  the  teachers 
and  promulgators  of  religion.  Sad  it  is,  but 
true,  that  through  the  weary  years  for  the 
most  part  they  have  listened  in  vain.  Religion 
and  human  life  were  not  separate  in  the  think- 
ing and  teaching  of  Jesus.  He  went  so  far  as 
to  call  the  ecclesiastical  leaders  of  his  day  and 
his  people  hypocrites  and  a  generation  of  vipers 
because  in  their  religious  zeal  and  bigotry  they 
exhibited  no  concern  for  human  life,  nor  even 
for  the  virtues  which  should  characterize  a  true 
human  life.  By  His  condemnation  of  the 
scribes   and   Pharisees   for  their   narrow   re- 


VITALIZING  ETHICAL  IDEALS        229 

ligious  conceptions  and  unsympathetic  attitude 
toward  human  hfe  He  hastened,  if  not 
brought  on,  His  own  crucifixion.  It  was 
Jesus  w^ho  really  discovered  humanity  and 
gave  it  intelligent  and  adequate  relation  to 
divinity.  The  follower  of  Jesus,  and  espe- 
cially one  sent  out  to  make  Him  known  to  the 
world,  is  under  solemn  obligation  to  present 
and  expound  the  meaning  and  value  of  human 
life  and  its  relations  as  well  as  to  interpret  the 
doctrinal  elements  of  the  Christian  creed. 
Failure  in  the  former  is  a  formidable  barrier 
to  the  acceptance  of  the  latter.  Christianity 
admits  of  no  separation  between  creed  and 
conduct,  between  faith  and  life,  between  re- 
ligion and  morals.  It  is  this  union,  organic 
and  inseparable,  which  gives  Christianity  its 
unanswerable  appeal  to  the  entire  human  race. 


n 

Christianity  is  based  upon  the  indissoluble 
unity  of  morals  and  religion.  Religion  deals 
primarily  with  the  relation  of  man  to  God; 
morals  with  the  relation  of  man  to  man.  Jesus 
never  separated  the  ethical  problem  from  the 
religious.  His  religious  teaching  involved 
plain  ethical  principles  and  could  scarcely  be 


230      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

stated  except  in  that  relation.  Without  His 
fundamental,  ethical  assumptions  much  of  His 
expressly  religious  teaching  would  have  no 
force.  A  very  large  proportion  of  His  teach- 
ing was  simply  and  distinctly  ethical.  He  laid 
down  and  made  plain  by  numerous  statements 
and  illustrations  many  fundamental  laws  of 
human  life.  His  ethics  formed  a  large  and 
vital  part  of  His  marvelous  doctrines.  He 
made  duty  the  will  of  God  and  found  the  will 
of  God  expressed  in  some  duty.  His  life  was 
the  realization  and  illustration  of  His  ethical 
principles  and  in  His  person  can  be  found  the 
best  expression  of  His  ethics.  He  embodied 
the  ideal  that  He  set  forth.  His  matchless 
personality  created  a  moral  standard  which 
cannot  be  avoided  or  ignored  if  His  religious 
doctrines  and  revelations  are  to  be  accepted 
for  effective  application.  He  offers  no  re- 
ligious light  nor  confident  hope  independently 
of  ethical  requirements  and  moral  achieve- 
ments. With  His  ethical  and  religious  teach- 
ings intricately  interwoven  it  becomes  evident 
that  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  cannot  be  pre- 
sented, promulgated  and  promoted  without 
full  and  continued  emphasis  upon  His  ethical 
conceptions,  ideals  and  demands.  The  Chris- 
tian religion  carries  with  it  the  Christian  ethics 


VITALIZING  ETHICAL  IDEALS        231 

and    neither    will    have    power    without    the 
other. 

The  ethical  conception  of  religion  is  point- 
edly and  forcefully  presented  in  the  Sermon 
on  the  Mount.  Here  is  to  be  found  the  state- 
ment and  elucidation  of  the  basic  principles  of 
human  life.  Here  are  set  forth  the  qualities 
essential  to  true  character,  full  happiness  and 
worthy  influence.  Here  are  made  plain  the 
sublime  motives  to  living.  To  many  very  sin- 
cere and  even  devout  persons  these  ethical 
ideals  are  important,  but  not  essential  and 
fundamental  to  salvation.  They  have  become 
persuaded  that  the  essence  of  Christianity  is 
in  its  mystical  doctrines,  its  metaphysical  ex- 
pressions of  Christ's  relation  to  God,  to  man, 
and  to  human  sin  and  salvation,  and  so  they 
are  compelled  to  give  this  marvelous  enuncia- 
tion of  basic  principles  of  human  life  a  sec- 
ondary place  in  the  Christian  system  of  re- 
ligion. They  do  not  find  in  this  matchless 
statement  what  they  call  the  "blood" — that  is, 
the  atonement  as  they  interpret  that  great  es- 
sential doctrine.  The  gospel  with  them  is 
identified  with  the  sacrificial  act  of  Jesus 
Christ  comprised  in  His  death  and  passion  and 
consummated  by  the  crucifixion.  Redemption 
finds  its  efficacy  in  this  atonement,  and  what- 


232      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

ever  else  may  be  added  cannot  be  accepted  as 
essential  to  salvation.  Preaching  this  gospel 
as  thus  understood  has  by  this  group  of  be- 
lievers been  considered  comprehensive  of  all 
that  Christianity  requires.  But  there  is  an- 
other and  larger  group  that  holds  just  as 
tenaciously  to  the  great  central  doctrines  of 
the  atonement  and  the  incarnation,  and  at  the 
same  time  believes  that  the  ethical  conceptions 
and  ideals  set  forth  by  Jesus  in  His  supreme 
statement  of  principles  are  also  essential  to 
human  salvation.  They  hold,  and  rightly, 
that  the  teachings  of  Jesus  must  not  be  di- 
vorced from  the  life  of  Jesus.  He  was  not 
dealing  in  nonessentials  when  He  spoke.  His 
ethics  were  as  much  the  expression  of  His  life 
as  was  His  religion  or  His  sacrificial  acts,  and 
these  cannot  be  omitted  when  He  is  presented 
to  men  or  nations,  nor  ignored  or  minimized 
when  He  is  accepted  as  a  Divine  Savior. 

Jesus  began  with  His  demand  for  a  new 
mind,  a  new  attitude,  a  new  character — "Re- 
pent!" That  is  a  challenge  to  a  new  expres- 
sion of  personality.  The  false  standards  of 
life  must  be  abandoned.  The  life  that  is  really 
worth  while  must  become  the  absorbing  aim. 
Things  basic  to  high  living  must  come  to  pri- 
mary consideration  and  adoption.    He  began 


VITALIZING  ETHICAL  IDEALS        233 

in  His  exposition  of  fundamental  principles 
with  contrasting  the  humble,  the  teachable, 
the  open-minded,  with  the  proud,  the  con- 
ceited, the  self-satisfied  and  self-willed.  He 
finds  here  the  door  into  the  Kingdom  of 
heaven,  and  it  might  be  said  into  the  kingdom 
of  knowledge.  Doctor  Henry  Churchill  King, 
in  his  *'Ethics  of  Jesus,"  has  pointed  out  that 
against  the  man  of  brazen  assurance,  of  jeal- 
ousy for  his  own  rights,  and  of  ambition  for  his 
own  glory,  Jesus  puts  the  man  of  meekness, 
self-control,  tranquil  courage  and  conscious 
strength.  Over  against  the  tyrannical,  the 
hard,  the  intolerant,  He  sets  the  compassion- 
ate, the  sympathetic  and  the  forbearing.  Over 
against  those  who  stir  up  strife,  create  conten- 
tions, encourage  war.  He  puts  those  who  rec- 
oncile differences,  harmonize  elements  and 
promote  peace.  Over  against  the  meddler, 
the  busybody,  the  tattler,  the  mischief-maker. 
He  puts  those  who  bring  in  the  state  of  friend- 
liness, neighborliness  and  social  good  will. 
Over  against  the  self-indulgent,  the  luxury- 
loving,  soft  sentimentalist,  He  puts  the  heroic, 
the  self-sacrificing,  the  persecuted  for  right- 
eousness. These  qualities  of  character  Jesus 
marks  out  as  the  supreme  conditions  of  happi- 
ness and  the  primary  factors  in  a  powerful  in- 


234      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

fluence  for  the  kingdom  which  He  was  con- 
cerned in  establishing. 

Doctor  King  has  given  the  following  as  the 
code  of  the  world,  the  beatitudes  of  the  world- 
lings— "Happy  are  the  proud,  for  theirs  is 
the  world.  Happy  are  the  unscrupulous,  for 
they  shall  need  no  comfort.  Happy  are  those 
who  claim  everything,  for  they  shall  possess 
the  earth.  Happy  are  they  who  hold  back 
from  no  sin,  for  they  shall  drain  pleasure's 
cup.  Happy  are  the  tyrants,  for  they  need 
no  mercy.  Happy  are  the  impure,  to  whose 
lust  no  bound  can  be  put,  for  they  shall  see 
many  harlots.  Happy  are  they  who  can  stir 
anger  unhindered,  whose  ambition  is  un- 
checked, for  they  shall  be  as  gods.  Happy 
are  they  who  have  never  sacrificed,  for  theirs 
is  aU  the  world."  Jesus  has  set  as  the  task  of 
His  followers  the  entire  reversal  of  the  world's 
code  and  the  substitution  with  all  mankind  of 
that  law  of  life  which  conserves,  magnifies  and 
sanctifies  the  noble  elements  of  our  humanity. 
Self-mastery,  the  pursuit  of  rightness,  intelli- 
gent and  sympathetic  respect  for  personality 
are  qualities  of  character  which  inevitably 
make  for  the  upbuilding  of  true  society.  The 
great  coming  civilization  guided  by  Jesus'  code 
and  not  the  world's  is  the  aim  of  Christian  ef- 


VITALIZING  ETHICAL  IDEALS        235 

fort.  In  such  a  civilization  a  brotherhood  of 
men  is  a  possibihty  and  in  no  other.  With 
such  an  ethical  ideal  humanity  will  have  a 
chance  to  come  to  its  maturity  and  display 
forces  worthy  of  the  Creative  Intelligence  and 
Love.  With  such  possibilities  human  effort 
is  inspired  to  sublime  tasks.  On  the  other 
hand,  what  is  there  in  the  code  of  the  world  to 
lift  man  and  civilization  to  heights  in  keeping 
with  man's  consciousness  of  his  own  powers? 
JNIen  find  life  dreary  without  competent  mo- 
tives. It  was  Emerson  who  said,  "A  good 
intention  clothes  itself  with  sudden  power." 
Jesus  set  the  dynamic  of  living  in  the  motives 
with  which  he  charged  the  human  soul.  First, 
He  placed  the  demand  for  thoroughgoing  con- 
sistency of  life.  This  is  no  fragmentary  mat- 
ter. A  judgment  is  inevitable  and  only  a  life 
substantial  in  every  part  can  endure  the  test- 
ing. It  is  better  to  lose  one  of  the  members 
of  the  body  than  to  have  the  entire  body 
thrown  into  the  dumping  pit.  Duplicity  in 
making  answer  to  life's  demands  brings  only 
condemnation.  "You  must  be  perfect,"  con- 
sistent in  your  life,  as  your  Heavenly  Father 
is  consistent  in  His,  if  you  hope  to  reach  this 
standard.  Second,  He  placed  a  loving  Father- 
hood at  the  heart  of  the  world  and  at  the  cen- 


236      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

ter  of  its  life.  There  is  no  partiality  there. 
There  is  no  forgetfulness  of  any.  There  is 
deep  concern  for  all.  Third,  He  made  every 
man  a  brother  of  every  other  man.  He  urged 
that  man  be  reconciled  to  every  brother  before 
any  effort  is  made  to  win  the  favor  of  the 
Father.  The  brother  may  at  some  time  be 
minded  to  strike  you,  or  take  your  possessions, 
or  do  you  injury,  but  treat  him  like  a  brother 
nevertheless.  Whatever  you  would  like  men 
to  do  to  you,  do  just  the  same  to  them.  The 
life  of  every  man  is  knit  up  with  one's**  own. 
Every  man  has  a  priceless  personality  in  the 
estimation  of  Jesus.  In  all  essentials  men 
are  alike.  The  brotherhood  of  the  race  is 
based  upon  its  essential  unity  and  the  com- 
mon Fatherhood  in  the  Creator.  These  clear- 
cut,  unequivocal,  emphatic  teachings  of  Jesus 
not  only  set  forth  commanding  social  ideals 
and  objectives,  but  they  place  dynamic  mo- 
tives at  the  heart  of  humanity. 

The  supreme  purpose  of  the  Christian  prop- 
aganda is  the  delivery  of  the  full  gospel  of 
Jesus  Christ  in  power  to  all  peoples,  that  His 
Kingdom,  with  all  that  He  meant  it  should 
embrace,  may  become  the  established  will  and 
habit  of  mankind.  The  peril  always  to  par- 
tial beings  such  as  men  are  is  that  they  may 


VITALIZING  ETHICAL  IDEALS        237 

limit  their  emphasis  to  that  only  which  ap- 
peals strongly  to  them  as  essential.  They  are 
not  always  able  to  see  that  all  that  Jesus  em- 
phasized, and  even  suggested,  is  essential.  The 
full  gospel  comprises  the  solution  of  the  ethi- 
cal and  religious  problems  of  humanity  and 
there  is  no  solution  of  the  one  without  the  so- 
lution of  the  other.  Religious  dogmas  are  no 
more  indispensable  to  the  adequate  presenta- 
tion of  Christianity  than  the  ethical  ideals  and 
demands  which  Jesus  outlined  and  empha- 
sized. The  moral  standard  in  Christianity  is 
just  as  necessary  to  the  plan  of  salvation  as 
the  doctrines  based  upon  the  mystical  and 
metaphysical  elements  of  Christ's  sacrifices. 
Sacerdotalism  with  its  pretentious  claims  of 
exclusive  authority  and  power  in  administer- 
ing the  benefits  of  the  latter  has  always  made 
light  of  the  former.  Wherever  the  moral  re- 
quirements of  Christianity  are  duly  met  and 
emphasized  Sacerdotalism  becomes  more  and 
more  glaringly  empty  and  vain.  There  can 
be  no  substitute  for  the  moral  character  which 
genuine  Christian  faith  develops,  and  any 
priestly  efforts  at  such  substitution  can  have 
merit  only  with  those  who  refuse  to  learn  from 
the  mouth  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  the  full  gos- 
pel of  life  and  salvation. 


238      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

III 

All  non-Christian  and  semi-Christian  peo- 
ples suffer  to-day  by  reason  of  the  evident  di- 
vorce of  religion  and  morals  which  has  been 
encouraged,  or  at  least  wittingly  tolerated  by 
their  priestly  leaders.  The  priestly  leaders 
are  first  accused  of  bringing  about  or  allowing 
this  separation  because  the  priestly  act  by  its 
very  nature  leads  to  such  a  condition.  It  is 
the  act  of  ransom,  of  buying  off,  of  appeasing, 
of  making  satisfaction  for  past  transgression 
by  the  bestowal  of  a  gift,  of  substituting 
through  some  supposed  innate  or  imputed 
power  and  authority  some  accumulated  virtue 
for  the  requirement  which  wrongdoing  had 
called  forth.  In  India  one  may  witness  to- 
day the  sacrificial  slaughter  of  the  kid  or  the 
lamb  before  the  altar  of  bloody  Kali.  In 
Japan  and  China  one  may  see  altars  filled 
with  offerings  to  spirits  who  would  be  dis- 
turbers of  peace  without  such  consideration. 
In  some  belated  lands  even  human  sacrifices 
are  still  occasionally  made  to  meet  the  ven- 
geance of  some  outraged  deity.  Priestcraft 
thrives  upon  the  faith  of  the  people  in  its  abil- 
ity to  save  them  from  the  dire  consequences  of 
their  own  misdoings.    Priests  not  only  encourv 


VITALIZING  ETHICAL  IDEALS        239 

age,  but  they  nourish  such  monstrous  credulity 
up  to  the  point  of  implicit  reliance  upon  them 
for  extrication  from  the  just  punishment  for 
unrepented  misdoings.  What  must  be  the 
effect  upon  moral  character  of  the  priest- 
hood emphasizing  from  week  to  week,  and 
even  from  day  to  day,  by  the  spoken  word 
and  the  posted  placard,  the  possibility  of  ob- 
taining for  current  coin  or  so  many  repeti- 
tions of  designated  prayers  indulgences  for 
wrong  doings?  Indulgences!  What  a  trav- 
esty on  religion !  Yet,  by  these  granted  indul- 
gences, by  the  pretentious  promises  to  shorten 
the  period  of  expiation  after  death,  by  the 
boast  of  holding  the  keys  to  the  chambers  of 
life  and  light,  the  priesthood  in  all  lands  and 
in  all  faiths  maintains  its  place  and  power. 

The  basis  of  authority  in  the  priesthood  is 
never  claimed  to  be  in  the  inner  purity  of  the 
priest.  Its  power  is  imputed  and  external. 
The  religious  body  is  the  real  representative 
of  the  Divine  Being  and  when  it  acts  through 
the  priesthood  the  divine  benefit  is  bestowed. 
Thus  the  priests  acting  officially  carry  a  bene- 
fit altogether  independent  of  their  personal 
character.  They  can  give  to  each  other  the 
cleansing  from  wrong-doing  which  they  be- 
lieve they  acting  officially  can  bestow.     They 


240      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

become  a  great  cleansing  fountain  for  the  vile 
pollutions  of  wretched  lives.  Is  it  any  wonder 
that  in  all  lands  which  they  control  religiously 
priests  suffer  unspeakable  accusations  against 
their  moral  character?  Would  it  be  any  sur- 
prise that  men  in  their  positions,  where  black 
streams  of  corrupt  living  flow  unceasingly, 
should  be  tempted  beyond  endurance?  The 
priesthood  is  a  victim  as  much  as  a  victimizer 
in  such  an  unnatural,  unreasonable,  unethical 
and  unreligious  system  of  belief  and  practice. 
The  censure  for  a  low  state  of  morals  in  any 
country  must  necessarily  rest  upon  the  re- 
ligious leaders  and  teachers.  The  priestly 
system  supposedly  makes  possible  the  escape 
from  the  ultimate  consequences  of  bad  morals, 
and  therefore  it  is  wanting  in  the  force  and 
sense  of  necessity  to  develop  an  energized 
moral  leadership.  Priests  seldom  in  any  lands 
become  moral  reformers  and  leaders  against 
vice.  They  are  so  completely  occupied  with 
the  other-world  consequences  of  immorality 
and  their  own  capabilities  for  destroying  those 
consequences  that  they  give  little  heed  to  the 
dire  results  that  threaten  earthly  society. 
Their  every  effort  is  to  keep  God  off  men  in- 
stead of  getting  God  to  men.  They  foster  the 
belief  that  in  the  very  last  moment  of  a  very 


VITALIZING  ETHICAL  IDEALS        241 

notoriously  evil  life  they  can  give  an  absolu- 
tion that  insures  safety.  Such  a  philosophy 
of  rehgion,  such  a  practice  of  supposed  au- 
thority, such  a  concern  continually  for  the 
after-life  cannot  do  otherwise  than  unfit  men 
for  great,  vital,  moral  leadership.  It  is  not 
easy  to  get  free  of  such  a  stupefying  system. 
Priests  grow  from  boys  and  are  not  chosen 
from  men.  Almost  from  infancy  they  have 
breathed  the  atmosphere  of  the  priesthood. 
They  never  chose  the  priesthood;  they  were 
given  to  it  and  reared  in  it.  This  is  true  of  all 
priestly  and  sacerdotal  faiths.  Their  sphere 
has  been  exceedingly  cramped;  their  horizon 
distressingly  limited.  Their  travel  has  been 
only  from  convent  to  convent,  monastery  to 
monastery,  temple  to  temple.  They  know 
not  the  world  of  men  as  it  should  be  known 
by  those  who  are  under  such  tremendous  moral 
responsibility.  They  lack  equipment  for  moral 
leadership  in  a  throbbing  world  of  human  re- 
lations. 

The  non-Christian  world  and  the  semi- 
Christian  world  is  a  priestly  dominated  world, 
and  in  a  priestly  dominated  world  morals  re- 
ceive meager  emphasis  from  the  religious 
leaders.  The  nature  and  purpose  of  priest- 
craft makes  it  so.    There  is  no  hope  of  raising 


242      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

the  moral  standard  by  means  of  that  priestly- 
leadership.  That  must  be  done  independently 
of  that  leadership  or  more  often  in  spite  of  it. 
Evangelical  Christianity  lays  down  its  first 
challenge  to  the  non-Christian  and  semi-Chris- 
tian peoples  in  its  moral  ideals  and  require- 
ments. It  has  at  the  very  beginning  the  unde- 
sirable task  of  discounting  the  existing  priest- 
hood because  of  its  moral  delinquencies,  either 
personal  or  social.  The  stress  that  is  put  upon 
the  ethical  ideals  and  demands  of  Jesus  is  in 
marked  contrast  to  anything  ever  previously 
required  by  the  priesthood.  The  emphasis 
is  at  once  shifted  from  ceremonies  and  ordi- 
nances to  life  and  character.  The  principles 
of  human  relations  enunciated  by  Jesus  be- 
come necessarily  an  arraignment  of  all  re- 
ligious leaders  who  have  ignored  them,  or 
transgressed  them,  and  been  ignorant  of  them. 
At  first  the  proponents  of  the  new  faith  and 
new  ethics  are  treated  as  fanatics  or  deluded 
extremists.  But  the  humanity  which  Jesus 
presents  in  His  person  and  in  His  teachings 
finds  a  response  in  the  common  humanity  of 
the  race.  His  fundamental  laws  of  human 
life  are  so  reasonable,  so  desirable  to  thought- 
ful builders  of  society  that  His  ethics  become 
irresistible  and  lead  at  once  to  inquiry  into  His 


VITALIZING  ETHICAI    IDEALS       243 

religion.  The  more  the  priesthood  combats 
the  ethics  as  well  as  the  religion  of  Jesus  the 
more  it  opens  to  view  its  own  character  and 
brings  upon  itself  accusations  of  moral  short- 
comings. The  moral  emphasis  is  subversive 
of  priestly  claims  and  is  revolutionary  of  the 
philosophy  of  the  priestly  system  and  it  can- 
not be  made  without  throwing  the  flashlight  on 
the  priesthood  itself.  This  in  no  small  way  is 
responsible  for  much  of  the  conflict  between 
teachers  of  genuine  Christianity  and  the  non- 
Christian  and  semi-Christian  leaders.  Chris- 
tianity's first  word  to  the  non-Christian  and 
un-Christian  man  is  "Repent."  The  first  word 
of  the  semi-Christian  and  the  non-Christian 
leader  is  "Do  penance."  Christianity  demands 
in  unmistakable  terms  "Change  your  life"; 
the  others,  "Produce  the  ransom  price."  The 
one  gives  as  a  reason  of  its  demands  a  door  to 
be  entered ;  the  others  a  possible  way  of  escape. 
These  two  conceptions  of  how  man  is  to  deal 
with  the  Supreme  Being  and  the  human  life 
account  in  no  small  degree  for  the  state  of 
ethical  ideals  and  conduct  to  be  found  among 
the  various  peoples  of  the  earth.  So  long  as 
the  priestly  system  can  maintain  itself  in  au- 
thority and  power  in  any  country,  whatever 
its  religion,  morals  will  not  receive  from  the 


244.      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

religious  leaders  any  adequate  consideration 
and  emphasis.  It  is  just  as  true  that  should 
morals  be  given  proper  emphasis  by  any  people 
the  priestly  system  will  wane  and  the  prophet 
of  righteousness  and  truth  will  assume  re- 
ligious leadership  and  come  into  supreme  spir- 
itual power. 

IV 

In  nothing  is  genuine  Christianity  more  dis- 
tinctive and  more  alone  than  in  its  emphasis 
upon  the  worth  of  the  individual.  Wherever 
heathenism  reigns  or  wherever  Christianity  is 
wrapped  in  mists  man's  life  is  cheap.  Mo- 
hammed built  his  great  system  upon  the  utter 
disregard  of  human  life,  and  his  followers  in 
their  blood-thirstiness  have  left  a  trail  of  hor- 
ror and  desolation  wherever  they  have  been 
impelled  by  their  selfish  interests.  Their  bru- 
talities toward  the  Armenians  illustrate  what 
they  are  minded  to  do  in  order  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  their  own  will  and  power.  Life 
has  no  sacredness  to  the  fatalistic  Moham- 
medan. Wherever  Confucius  and  Buddha 
have  been  dominant  the  killing  of  hundreds  of 
thousands  in  war  or  a  scourge,  or  by  some 
catastrophe,  is  not  an  event  of  startling  impor- 
tance, except  where  the  impact  of  Christianity 


VITALIZING  ETHICAL  IDEALS        245 

has  been  felt.  Human  suffering  from  famines, 
floods,  plagues  and  pestilence  seems  not  to 
arouse  any  great  sympathy.  In  China  the 
barbaric  habit  of  tossing  into  a  public  vat  the 
undesirable  babies  to  die  has  only  recently 
been  discontinued.  In  India,  the  home  of  the 
Hindu  cults,  the  age-long  custom  of  burning 
widows  with  their  deceased  husbands  on  the 
funeral  pyre  was  not  discontinued  until  pro- 
hibited by  a  Christian  government.  Canni- 
balism in  the  Fiji  Islands  and  among  the 
African  tribes  did  not  cease  until  after  the 
proclamation  of  Christianity.  Cruelty  of  the 
most  revolting  kind  is  common  in  all  non- 
Christian  countries.  Ordeals  of  the  most  un- 
speakable torture  are  resorted  to  in  courts  and 
in  the  punishment  of  crime.  Suicide  is  almost 
too  prevalent  to  receive  notice.  It  is  more 
common  in  China  than  in  any  other  country 
perhaps  because  of  the  frivolous  estimate  there 
put  upon  numan  life.  In  Japan  suicide  has 
been  all  but  canonized  and  admired  as  an  act 
of  heroism  and  a  sign  of  distinction.  In  India 
it  is  common,  and  usually  is  the  result  of  un- 
happy marriage  or  domestic  cruelty.  But  in 
all  cases  and  in  all  lands  suicide  is  due  to  a  low 
estimate  of  the  value  of  human  life.  In  non- 
Christian  countries  the  individual  is  counted 


246      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

for  nothing.  He  is  brought  up  with  his  sense 
of  responsibility  confined  to  his  membership 
in  a  family,  a  tribe,  a  clan,  or  a  guild.  He  is 
a  part  of  a  social  machine.  He  is  to  be  con- 
tent to  be  what  his  fathers  were,  and  satisfied 
if  his  descendants  rise  only  to  the  position 
which  he  has  been  compelled  to  hold.  Such  a 
man  can  never  fulfill  any  just  and  adequate 
conception  of  humanity.  He  is  the  victim  of 
a  direful  philosophy  and  a  bondslave  to  a  so- 
cial system  that  crushes  human  hope.  Human 
existence  to  him  is  a  mad  struggle  in  which 
fate  is  the  determinative  force.  Life  has  no 
goal  in  this  earthly  sphere  and  better  is  the 
end  than  burdensome  distress  and  perplexing 
uncertainty.  Pessimism  reigns  supreme  where 
human  life  in  any  form  is  held  in  contempt. 
This  is  everywhere  true  to-day  in  the  non- 
Christian  and  semi-Christian  world.  Only  the 
lifting  of  human  life  to  its  proper  valuation 
will  restore  to  the  world  a  just  and  adequate 
philosophy  of  human  existence. 

Christianity  comes  with  its  doctrines  of  per- 
sonality and  high  individual  worth  and  de- 
mands that  life  be  made  worth  while  and  that 
the  dignity  of  the  human  is  respected.  This  is 
why  slavery  has  been  wiped  out.  This  is  why 
human  barbarity  and  ferocity  die  out  with  the 


VITALIZING  ETHICAL  IDEALS        247 

demonstration  of  the  Christian  virtues,  and  in 
their  stead  spring  up  those  qualities  of  charac- 
ter and  strength  which  enrich  and  ennoble  civ- 
ilization. The  human  body  takes  on  new 
value  as  the  organism  of  the  spirit.  The  peo- 
ple are  not  only  taught  not  to  abuse  it,  but 
how  to  refine  and  strengthen  it  and  its  higher 
sensibilities  for  its  part  in  life's  processes. 
Sanitation  and  housing  are  all  but  invariably 
bad  wherever  Christianity  has  not  been;  and 
they  come  to  the  fore  for  adequate  attention 
wherever  Christianity  gets  a  competent  voice. 
Christianity  seeks  to  command  with  its  princi- 
ples the  environment  in  which  people  live. 
The  missionary  who  does  not  produce  a  stir 
of  interest  in  better  living  in  the  zone  of  his 
operations  may  question  the  effectiveness  of 
his  services,  whatever  may  be  the  appearances 
of  success.  Christianity  aims  directly  at  the 
redemption  of  life,  whether  for  this  world  or 
the  next.  Whatever  may  be  said  in  behalf  of 
other  religions  the  facts  of  their  civilizations 
show  that  humanitarianism  never  w\is  truly 
manifested  until  Christianity  pressed  upon  the 
consciences  of  all  people  its  exalted  estimate 
of  the  individual  worth  of  human  life. 

Christianity  presents  a  moral  code  that  is 
directly   antagonistic   to   many   characteristic 


248      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

practices  of  various  peoples.  For  instance, 
the  gambling  habit  is  widespread  in  the  world. 
China  seems  to  lead  in  this  fearful  vice.  The 
indulgence  of  the  Chinese  is  immemorial  and 
inveterate.  In  Korea  the  passion  is  appar- 
ently unrestrained.  In  Japan  it  is  less  than 
in  China,  but  it  is  exceedingly  common.  In 
Siam  it  is  a  national  evil,  while  in  Burma  it 
is  called  the  ''bane  of  the  country."  The  Brit- 
ish Government  has  checked  it  in  India,  but  it 
is  still  a  social  curse.  The  South  American 
Government  lotteries,  one  of  the  most  harm- 
ful ways  of  gambling  because  it  affects  so 
large  a  number  of  people,  are  sources  of  vast 
revenues,  portions  of  which  are  applied  to  the 
support  of  philanthropic  institutions,  includ- 
ing schools  and  hospitals,  and  the  remainder 
is  appropriated  by  the  State.  It  is  readily  ad- 
mitted that  gambling  in  the  United  States  and 
Great  Britain  is  not  uncommon,  but  it  is  un- 
der the  ban  of  public  society.  There  can  be 
no  lotteries  anywhere  in  this  nation.  Race 
track  gambling  is  prohibited  by  most  of  the 
States  and  practically  all  other  forms  have 
been  outlawed.  Gambling  is  recognized  by 
the  public  as  a  social  evil.  This  is  not  so  in  the 
non-Christian  countries  nor  in  semi-Christian 
countries. 


VITALIZING  ETHICAL  IDEALS        249 

The  low  estimate  on  human  life  is  shown 
not  only  in  its  destruction,  but  also  in  the  evils 
which  society  nourishes  or  tolerates.  Social 
vice  is  the  open  shame  of  Japan.  India's 
prominence  as  a  land  of  immoral  tendencies  is 
most  unenviable.  In  China  it  may  be  said 
that  womanhood  is  carefully  guarded,  and  yet 
the  infamous  traffic  shows  many  shameful  as- 
pects. In  Thibet  and  Siam  the  moral  status 
is  low.  The  harem  of  the  Moslem  is  notorious. 
Concubinage  and  polygamy  with  the  arbitrary 
power  of  divorce,  the  conceded  right  of  every 
husband  in  all  heathen  and  Moslem  countries, 
add  their  horror  to  flaunting  immorality.  In 
South  America,  Central  America  and  the 
West  Indies  the  tone  of  society  is  dissolute, 
and  the  people  are  distressingly  profligate. 
The  physical  condition  of  vast  numbers  bears 
fiery  testimony  to  this  wanton  fact.  The  sta- 
tistics of  illegitimacy  in  these  Latin  countries 
are  startling.  In  the  Roman  Catholic  con- 
vents, hospitals  and  foundling  homes  there  is 
a  niche  in  the  wall  in  which  is  a  box  placed  in 
a  cylinder  which  turns.  Undesirable  infants 
are  placed  in  this  box,  the  bell  is  rung,  the 
cylinder  is  turned,  the  infant  is  taken  from 
the  inside  of  the  building  by  the  attendants 
and  its  name   and  parentage  thereafter  are 


250      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

never  known.  Evangelical  Christianity  finds 
itself  in  these  countries  face  to  face  with  wide- 
spread social  vice.  Because  of  the  existing 
prohibition  of  all  divorce  the  masses  have  be- 
come sadly  indifferent  to  legal  restraints  and 
formalities.  This  adds  an  additional  problem 
for  all  who  strive  to  establish  Christian  civili- 
zation. 

The  evils  of  government  in  non-Christian 
countries  are  little  less  distressing  than  those 
of  society.  The  rulers  in  heathen  history  of 
all  ranks  and  grades  looked  almost  altogether 
upon  government  as  simply  a  process  of  self- 
aggrandizement  and  exaltation  at  the  expense 
of  their  subjects.  Their  conception  of  rule  was 
despotism.  Savage  life  everywhere  has  been 
characterized  by  tyranny  on  the  part  of  rulers. 
The  principle  of  despotism  was  not  limited  to 
the  kings  and  superior  officials,  but  it  was  em- 
ployed by  underlings  and  petty  officers.  Op- 
pression was  characteristic  of  all.  Every  one 
in  power  sought  his  victim  and  the  higher  the 
official  the  larger  were  his  demands.  It  was 
customary  not  only  to  arraign  the  party  ac- 
cused of  wrong  doing,  but  to  make  his  rela- 
tives, his  neighbors,  and  even  his  village,  re- 
sponsible for  his  misdoings.  This  insured 
tribute.     The  old  Korean  Government  liter- 


VITALIZING  ETHICAL  IDEALS        251 

ally  fell  to  pieces  under  the  weight  of  its  own 
rottenness.  China's  rebellion  was  against  the 
Manchu  tyrannical  extortioners.  Japan 
caught  early  the  gleam  of  civilization  and 
saved  the  government  by  gradual  reforms. 
Oriental  governmentalism  has  been  for  cen- 
turies marked  by  extortion,  bribery,  graft  and 
every  form  of  public  dishonesty.  This  is  just 
as  true  of  Moslem  rule.  Has  there  come  in 
the  Oriental  countries  a  complete  revolution 
in  govermiiental  honesty?  This  will  not  be 
until  new  moral  ideals  have  been  set  up.  The 
reputation  of  Latin  America  is  by  no  means 
enviable.  A  distinguished  South  American, 
at  the  opening  of  this  decade,  declared  that  the 
greatest  need  of  his  country  was  "honesty  and 
efficiency  in  government."  Some  of  the  South 
American  governments  are  little  above  bank- 
ruptcy notwithstanding  their  great  natural 
wealth.  The  octopus  upon  the  countries  is 
overgrown,  extravagant  and  dishonest  govern- 
mentalism. The  revolutions  that  have  afflicted 
Latin  America  in  the  last  quarter  of  a  century 
have  been  in  reality  raids  upon  the  treasurj^ 
rather  than  struggles  for  liberty  an3  justice. 
As  a  rule  they  have  proven  lucrative  to  the 
revolutionary  leaders.  No  one  can  deal  with 
the  custom  houses,  post-offices  and  other  public 


252      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

concerns  of  these  countries  without  being 
nauseated  by  the  graft,  bribery  and  out- 
rageous dishonesty  that  are  tolerated.  Presi- 
dent Cleveland  spoke  of  "Public  office  as  a 
public  trust."  Not  so  in  the  southern  re- 
publics ;  public  office  is  too  often  simply  a  pri- 
vate opportunity.  This  is  no  wholesale  indict- 
ment of  all  officials  in  all  or  any  of  these  coun- 
tries, but  rather  the  designation  of  evils  which 
do  exist,  and  which  there  seems  to  be  no  serious 
effort  to  correct. 

Deceit  and  dishonesty  are  twin  sins  of 
heathenism,  irrespective  of  the  countries  in 
which  they  are  found.  Lying,  make-believe, 
insincerity  are  characteristics  of  the  common 
people  of  the  Orient.  "Nation  of  Uars"  with 
"ways  that  are  dark  and  tricks  that  are  vain" 
make  a  terrible  and  yet  pitiable  indictment 
against  the  non- Christian  world.  Where  so- 
ciety is  permeated  with  the  spirit  of  deceit  sta- 
bility does  not  exist  and  moral  health  is  un- 
known. Honesty  is  fundamental  to  all  social 
confidence.  With  the  foundations  of  social  in- 
tegrity and  prosperity  wanting  there  can  be 
no  hope  of  development  and  human  advance. 
Commercial  distrust  is  inevitable  where  artful 
and  unscrupulous  dealings  are  common.  Dr. 
Arthur  H.  Smith,  in  his  "Chinese  Characteris- 


VITALIZING  ETHICAL  IDEALS        253 

tics,"  says:  "Neither  buyer  nor  seller  trusts 
the  other,  and  each  for  that  reason  thinks  his 
interests  are  subserved  by  putting  his  affairs 
for  the  time  being  out  of  his  own  hands  into 
those  of  a  third  person  who  is  strictly  neutral. 
The  high  rate  of  Chinese  interest,  ranging 
from  twenty-four  to  thirty-six  or  more  per- 
cent, is  a  proof  of  the  lack  of  mutual  confi- 
dence. The  large  part  of  this  extortionate  ex- 
action does  not  represent  payment  for  the  use 
of  money,  but  insurance  on  risk,  which  is  very 
great."  Another  writer  says:  "Low  commer- 
cial standard  is  a  feeble  phrase  to  express  the 
dishonesty  and  general  unreliability  prevalent 
in  the  commercial  life  of  China."  The  reputa- 
tion of  the  Japanese  business  morals  three 
decades  ago  was  notoriously  bad,  while  in  In- 
dia, Turkey  and  Persia  the  lack  of  business 
confidence  was  a  national  characteristic. 
Throughout  the  South  American  continent  the 
higher  standards  of  business  are  grievously 
wanting,  while  in  Central  America  commer- 
cial standards  are  low  in  every  conceivable  re- 
spect. Smuggling  is  looked  upon  as  cunning. 
Fraudulent  reproduction  and  use  of  foreign 
trade  symbols  and  patent  reservations  are  car- 
ried on  without  shame.  Imitations  of  Eu- 
ropean or  American  articles  are  palmed  off  as 


254      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

genuine.  Where  the  commercial  status  is  thus 
weighted  with  low  moral  standards,  fraudulent 
methods  and  paralyzing  defects,  financial  con- 
fidence is  not  possible  and  all  enterprise  is  crip- 
pled. Moral  hindrances  which  affect  the  com- 
mercial prosperity  of  a  people  may  be  prop- 
erly considered  as  social  evils  which  will  not 
be  eliminated  except  by  a  new  social  morality. 


The  world  to-day  is  far  from  a  true  ethical 
basis.  With  great  peoples  characterized  by  a 
low  estimate  of  the  value  of  human  life,  by 
gross  social  immoralities,  by  corruption  and 
inefficiency  in  government,  by  prevalent  un- 
scrupulousness  in  business  and  by  untruthful- 
ness and  duplicity  in  common  human  relations, 
there  is  glaring  need  of  a  new  ethical  code  and 
the  vitalizing  power  of  a  new  moral  and  re- 
ligious ideal.  To  be  sure,  there  are  good  peo- 
ple and  true,  perfectly  correct  and  honorable 
men  and  women,  honest  government  officials 
and  upright  and  trustworthy  business  men  in 
all  these  lands,  but  the  facts  in  large  volume 
strongly  support  the  position  that  the  status 
of  society  is  far,  far  below  what  genuine  con- 
scientious  Christianity  could   at  all   tolerate. 


VITALIZING  ETHICAL  IDEALS        255 

No  just  person  would  want  to  claim  that  the 
moral  delinquencies  and  obliquities  herein  set 
forth  grew  out  of  the  religious  beliefs  of  the 
people.  The  moral  corollaries  of  all  religious 
beliefs  would  be  strongly  opposed  to  what 
really  exists,  but  these  corollaries  have  not 
been  diligently  deduced  and  vigorously  ap- 
plied. Right  here  is  the  deficiency.  A  wide 
gulf  has  been  allowed  between  the  religious 
tenets  and  ethical  conduct,  and  the  blame  rests 
heavily  upon  those  religious  leaders  who  have 
been  selfishly  indifferent  to  that  gulf.  There 
can  be  no  denial  of  the  existence  of  these  moral 
shortcomings  and  transgressions,  and  there 
can  be  no  denial  of  the  fact  that  even  now  the 
religious  leaders  of  the  non-Christian  and  nom- 
inally Christian  peoples  are  utterly  indifferent 
to  the  low  moral  status  of  society.  Their  in- 
terest, like  that  of  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees, 
is  in  priestly  functions  with  their  pretensions 
to  divine  powers,  and  not  the  elevation  of  the 
quality  of  human  living. 

As  he  has  said,  the  Latin- American  coun- 
tries are  all  permeated  by  the  beguiling  lot- 
teries. Lottery  tickets  are  thrust  at  travelers 
at  every  railroad  station  and  cried  by  venders 
in  all  the  streets  of  the  cities.  The  iniquities 
of  this  institution  are  well  known.    \Vhat  Ro- 


256      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

man  Catholic  priest  in  any  of  these  countries 
ever  raised  his  voice  against  the  lottery?  Yet 
it  was  the  evangelical  ministry  in  the  United 
States  that  made  the  lottery,  or  even  the  ad- 
vertisement of  one,  utterly  impossible  in  this 
country.  The  liquor  traffic  is  nefariously  car- 
ried on  in  all  these  lands,  but  no  Roman  Cath- 
olic priest,  bishop  or  archbishop  ever  took  his 
stand  against  it.  Very  few  did  it  in  the  United 
States.  The  prohibition  sentiment  in  many 
South  American  countries  is  growing  at  a  mar- 
velous rate,  but  the  priest  is  silent.  Who  does 
not  know  that  the  evangelical  ministry  of  the 
United  States  really  mobilized  the  forces  that 
made  prohibition  a  constitutional  amendment, 
and  that  with  very  little  aid  from  the  Roman 
clergy?  Social  vice  is  notorious  in  Roman 
Catholic  countries,  but  Roman  Catholic  ec- 
clesiastics have  initiated  no  movement  against 
it  nor  done  anything  whatsoever  to  abolish  or 
lessen  its  evil?  If  this  is  true  of  priests  who 
are  called  Christian,  what  could  be  expected 
of  priests  who  are  called  non-Christian?  It  is 
true  the  opium  curse  was  wiped  out  from 
China,  but  largely  under  evangelical  Christian 
leadership.  Widow-burning  was  stopped  in 
India,  but  only  by  the  prohibition  of  Christian 
authorities.     Destruction  of  infants  in  China 


VITALIZING  ETHICAL  IDEALS        257 

was  stopped  not  by  the  activity  of  the  native 
priests,  but  by  the  impact  of  Christian  civiliza- 
tion. The  priest  of  whatever  faith  up  to  this 
time  has  been  a  nonentity  so  far  as  giving 
leadership  to  moral  reform  is  concerned,  and 
his  opportunities  have  been  multitudinous 
throughout  many  centuries. 

It  would  be  lamentably  unfair  to  suppose 
that  non-Christian  peoples  are  wanting  in  ethi- 
cal ideals.  One  has  only  to  examine  the  teach- 
ing of  Confucius  to  find  a  marvelous  system 
of  ethics.  These  have  been  the  basis  of  Chinese 
education  for  centuries  and  have  been  for 
many  years  in  the  curricula  of  the  school  sys- 
tem of  Korea  and  even  Japan.  Many  of  his 
statements  rival  those  of  the  Jewish  prophets 
and  psalmists,  and  even  some  of  those  of  the 
Master  Teacher  of  Galilee.  Taoism  in  China 
and  Shintoism  in  Japan  with  all  their  nature 
worship  and  hero  worship  are  not  without 
strong  ethical  implications  and  injunctions. 
Buddhism  with  its  deadening  pessimism  is  one 
long  exhortation  to  right  living  and  right 
thinking,  although  the  ultimate  purpose  was 
happy  extinction.  Hinduism  with  its  tre- 
mendous body  of  Vedic  abstruse  philosophy 
and  bewildering  mysticism  is  rich  in  its  moral 
instruction  and  high  idealism.     No  Christian 


258      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

would  grant  that  the  ethics  of  Confucius,  of 
Laotze,  of  Buddha,  and  of  the  Hindu  teachers 
are  comparable  to  those  of  Jesus,  but  the  con- 
tention here  is  that  no  people  has  been  left 
without  a  high  moral  standard,  even  sufficient 
to  high  ethical  conduct.  The  low  status  of 
morals  is  due  to  the  disruption  between  morals 
and  religion,  to  the  indifference  to  morals  on 
the  part  of  religious  leaders,  and  to  the  lack  of 
real  vitalization  of  morals  by  a  virulent  re- 
ligious faith. 

Religion  was  always  to  the  ancients,  as  it  is 
to-day  to  many  moderns,  synonymous  with  su- 
perstitious practices  and  usages.  A  system  of 
worship  apart  from  life  inevitably  brings  re- 
ligion into  decline  and  often  into  contempt. 
Faults  in  the  presentation  of  Christianity  by 
its  recognized  exponents  have  been  the  chief 
sources  of  skepticism  and  even  antagonism  to 
Christianity.  A  Minister  of  Education  in 
France  a  number  of  years  ago  said,  "The  fur- 
ther men  are  from  religion  the  nearer  they  are 
to  morality  and  good  sense."  Fremantle,  in 
his  "The  World  as  the  Subject  of  Redemp- 
tion," commenting  on  this  statement,  said, 
"But  the  cause  of  this  was  patent,  namely  this, 
that  the  Church  had  narrowed  itself  to  a  cleri- 
cal sect,  and  that  the  clergy,  having  separated 


VITALIZING  ETHICAL  IDEALS        259 

religion  from  the  common  life  of  men,  had 
taught  superstition  and  folly  under  its  name." 
He  says  further,  '*When  the  Church  is  seen  to 
be  the  constant  inspirer  of  human  progress 
there  will  be  no  skeptics  but  those  to  whom 
human  progress  is  indifferent."  The  best 
thing  that  Christians  can  do  for  the  faith  of 
mankind  is  to  exhibit  the  real  power  of  Christ 
and  the  Holy  Spirit  as  a  redeeming  influence 
in  the  whole  wide  field  of  human  life. 

While  evangelical  propagandists  are  sur- 
veying and  tabulating  the  moral  delinquencies 
of  non-Christian  and  Roman  countries,  they 
should  not  lay  too  much  virtue  to  their  own 
land.  Here  will  be  found  much  of  the  same 
disregard  of  high  ethical  ideals,  which  the 
founders  of  the  nation  have  deemed  essential 
to  the  stability  and  onward  movement  of  civ- 
ihzation.  One  can  scarcely  think  of  our  mu- 
nicipal governments  without  being  reminded 
of  graft.  One  cannot  think  of  the  war  with- 
out thinking  of  the  shameless  profiteers  and 
that  unscrupulous  company  of  men  who  by 
their  government  contracts  made  enormous 
fortunes  out  of  the  disasters  of  humanity. 
Business  in  this  country  is  capable  of  being  a 
very  great  sinner  and  is  very  weak  before  large 
temptations.     Our  divorce  courts   scandahze 


260      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

us  and  the  divorcees  feel  no  string.  Social  vice 
has  become  infamous.  Law  is  trampled  upon 
by  bootleggers  and  their  willful  patrons,  by 
lynching  mobs  and  masked  parties,  and  by  the 
increased  number  of  safe-blowers,  train-rob- 
bers and  murderers.  This  people  is  not  with- 
out sin,  but  it  is  also  not  without  a  militant 
moral  force.  The  dominant  Christianity  of 
the  country  is  awake  to  its  moral  obligation. 
Public  opinion  exists,  is  fearless,  powerful  and 
ethical.  The  things  that  are  bad  in  Society  are 
not  allowed  to  rest  and  be  at  ease.  The 
searchlight  is  ever  flashing  and  radium  rays 
cease  not  their  burning.  ^  The  social  conscience 
is  set  for  the  eradication  of  social  disease  and 
the  establishment  of  social  health.  This  state 
of  mind  and  attitude  of  leadership  makes  the 
incalculable  difference  between  Christian  and 
non- Christian  countries. 


VI 

The  Christian  propaganda  in  every  land  is 
confronted  by  the  immense  task  of  creating  or 
vitalizing  ethical  conceptions  and  moral  stand- 
ards. If  the  foregoing  survey  has  revealed  the 
facts  correctly,  then  moral  progress  in  the 
world  must  necessarily  wait  upon  Christian 


VITALIZING  ETHICAL  IDEALS        261 

progress.  That  the  progress  of  evangelical 
Christianity  has  stimulated  moral  activity  by 
its  very  impact  is  well  authenticated.  Moral 
progress  has  everywhere  awaited  the  coming 
of  true  ethical  Christianity  and  always  begins 
with  the  preaching  and  even  the  impact  of 
ethical  Christian  doctrines.  Ethical  Chris- 
tianity vigorously  proclaimed  and  strenuously 
applied  in  individual  and  social  life  creates  a 
stir  of  conscience  in  any  people  and  calls  forth 
an  assertion  of  the  best  elements  of  the  human 
character.  It  is  its  own  apologetic  to  the  open 
consciences  of  the  race.  Its  faithful  exposi- 
tion will  always  be  its  own  defense.  This  ac- 
counts for  the  friendly  attitude  toward  Chris- 
tianity in  the  world  to-day.  The  organized 
Church  is  criticized,  and  in  many  places  all  but 
rejected,  and  Christianity  which  is  identified 
with  ecclesiasticism  is  almost  repudiated,  but 
a  friendly  voice  is  always  raised  in  behalf  of 
the  true  religion  of  Jesus  Christ.  Men  who 
have  declared  their  contempt  for  the  Church 
still  express  their  admiration  for  Jesus,  if  not 
their  attachment  to  Him.  The  reason  is  not 
far  to  seek.  A  metaphysical  faith,  a  sacra- 
mentarian  worship,  and  a  priestly  domination 
of  life  here  and  hereafter  have  become  to  them 
the  meaning  of  the  Church.    Against  this  they 


262      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

rebel.    They  seek  Jesus  who  has  the  words  of 
life;  yea,  eternal  life. 

The  world  to-day  stands  in  dire  need  of 
moral  integrity,  moral  purpose  and  moral 
earnestness.  These  cannot  come  simply  by 
moral  reform.  Many  peoples  may  need  new 
and  adequate  moral  conceptions,  but  the  su- 
preme need  of  all  is  new  moral  power.  "When 
I  would  do  good,  evil  is  present  with  me." 
That  is  man's  universal  testimony.  The  pos- 
sibilities of  the  overthrow  of  evil  have  never 
been  made  clear  to  the  great  body  of  humanity. 
Moral  resistance  is  looked  upon  as  vain  be- 
cause moral  incompetence  has  been  accepted 
as  fatally  imposed.  It  is  evident  that  there 
can  be  no  hope  of  moral  reform  and  moral  as- 
sertiveness  until  this  demonic  spell  is  broken 
and  men  have  been  awakened  to  the  possibility 
of  a  full  moral  life.  This  cannot  be  accom- 
plished by  any  mere  moralist.  There  must  be 
a  dynamic  charged  from  invisible  batteries 
and  connected  with  unfailing  sources  of  power. 
Moral  power  can  have  no  less  origin  than  re- 
ligious power.  Moral  integrity  must  find  its 
support  in  religious  reliability.  Moral  pur- 
pose must  be  actuated  by  religious  motive. 
Moral  earnestness  must  be  fired  by  religious 
zeal   and  stayed  by  religious   determination. 


VITALIZING  ETHICAL  IDEALS        263 

Moral  triumph  can  find  no  sufficient  basis  out- 
side genuine  religion.  This  lays  upon  religion 
the  unescapable  responsibility  for  the  moral 
status  of  the  race.  Religion  has  not  always 
recognized — yea,  seldom  has  it  recognized  this 
responsibility — and  bent  its  efforts  to  the  dis- 
charge of  this  crowning  duty  to  mankind.  But 
in  the  future  in  these  balances  shall  religion 
be  weighed,  and  woe  be  unto  it  if  it  is  found 
wanting. 

Christianity  must  now  recognize  its  double 
responsibility,  of  lifting  up  before  the  world 
vital  ethical  ideals  and  of  supplying  a  religion 
of  commensurate  spiritual  power.  The  ethics 
of  Christianity  holds  the  same  relation  to  the 
ethics  of  other  religions  that  the  religion  of 
Jesus  does  to  the  religion  of  Buddha,  Con- 
fucius, Mohammed  and  the  rest.  Jesus  was 
distinctly  a  teacher  of  superior  ethics  and  His 
moral  ideals  alone  form  an  enormous  contribu- 
tion to  the  race.  The  ethics  of  Jesus  forms  a 
body  of  instruction  of  which  the  world  to-day 
stands  in  great  need,  and  without  which  no 
new  moral  standard  will  ever  be  established. 
But  the  ethics  of  Jesus  finds  its  dynamic  in 
the  religion  of  the  Christ.  The  Christian 
ethics  is  not  something  apart  from  Christian 
religion.    The  power  that  vitalizes  one  vitahzes 


'264     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

the  other  and  any  neglect  of  the  one  can  only 
prove  disastrous  to  the  other.  In  seeking 
after  eternal  life  there  can  be  no  trifling  with 
the  ideals  of  human  conduct  and  the  principles 
of  human  life.  Playing  fast  and  loose  in  the 
moral  realm  blurs  the  vision  and  renders  im- 
possible any  just  estimate  of  values  in  the 
spiritual  sphere.  Religion  and  morals  are  but 
aspects  of  the  one  reality. 

Christianity  carries  not  merely  a  new  faith, 
but  a  new  life.  It  is  a  religion  of  character. 
The  redemption  it  assures  is  fundamentally 
moral.  Its  essential  doctrines  have  to  do  with 
life.  By  its  superiority  in  moral  conceptions 
and  achievements  it  makes  its  easiest  approach 
to  the  non-Christian  man;  but  it  is  in  this 
realm  that  the  greatest  battle  for  vital  Chris- 
tianity must  be  fought.  The  missionary  prop- 
aganda in  its  supreme  objective  of  making  the 
world  Christian  is  unalterably  bound  to  that 
of  making  the  world  moral. 


LECTURE  VI:  CONSTRUCTING  AN 
ADEQUATE  FAITH 


The  real  goal  of  the  missionary  movement, 
however  diverse  its  activities  and  comprehen- 
sive its  labors,  is  the  construction  of  an  ade- 
quate religious  faith  for  every  member  of  the 
human  family.  It  is  this  which  gives  signifi- 
cance and  direction  to  the  entire  movement. 
Christianity  is  primarily,  essentially  and  ulti- 
mately a  religion,  and  what  it  accomplishes  in 
the  individual  and  society  is  the  outcome  of  its 
religious  power.  Religion  recognizes  super- 
sensible realities  and  recognizes  them  as  su- 
perior and  worshipful.  Christianity  defines 
those  invisible,  intangible,  superior  and  wor- 
shipful realities  in  terms  of  personality  and 
thereby  brings  them  into  the  realm  of  human 
relations.  Religion  has  to  do  with  man's  atti- 
tude to  the  world  as  a  whole.  Christianity  in- 
terprets the  world  as  the  manifestation  of 
supreme  intelligence,  moral  purpose  and 
righteous  will.  Not  only  back  of  it  all  but  in 
it  all  man  finds  a  force  like  unto  his  own  and 

265 


266     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN" 

with  which  he  can  establish  coveted  relations. 
He  finds  himself  continually  in  touch  with  the 
Infinite  to  whom  he  is  akin.  Christianity  puts 
a  new  appraisal  on  religious  values  and  reveals 
man's  possibilities  through  religious  power. 
The  secret  and  center  of  that  power  is  the 
creative  Personality  from  which  it  sprang  and 
by  which  it  is  maintained.  The  Christ  is  the 
supreme  contribution  which  Christianity  has 
to  make  to  the  world.  To  make  Him  known, 
understood,  comprehended,  believed  in,  and 
accepted  by  the  entire  race  is  to  lift  humanity 
into  the  upper  spheres  of  divine  reality  and 
attain  the  supreme  end  of  all  missionary  en- 
deavor. The  religion  of  the  Christ  is  man's 
best  gift  to  man,  as  it  is  God's.  To  deliver  it 
the  Christian  is  irretrievably  bound  and  is  now 
resolutely  bent. 

Religion  to-day  in  all  the  earth  is  more  or 
less  in  a  state  of  chaos.  The  reasons  for  this 
are  not  far  to  seek.  The  cataclysm  of  the  last 
decade  shook  all  society  to  its  foundation, 
broke  up  the  old  channels  of  thought  and 
jarred,  if  not  shattered,  the  faith  of  men  in  the 
moral  order  of  the  world.  The  bitter  wail 
arose  from  believer  and  skeptic  alike,  the  one 
in  lament,  the  other  in  scorn,  "Christianity  has 
failed."    Europe  was  a  spectacle  which  no  re- 


CONSTRUCTING  ADEQUATE  FAITH     267 

ligious  faith  could  look  upon  without  the 
deepest  questionings  of  mind  and  heart.  Many 
a  soul  was  lost  to  religious  reason  in  the  days 
of  that  awful  conflict,  while  many  another 
came  to  foundations  that  are  sure.  Through- 
out the  world  men  who  thought,  and  never  did 
so  many  think  as  then,  thought  seriously,  so- 
berly, profoundly,  about  the  purpose  of  the 
life,  the  meaning  and  value  of  man,  the  end 
of  all  civilization  and  the  final  destiny  of  crea- 
tion. To  be  sure,  the  great  body  of  the  race 
did  not  rise  to  any  great  height  in  their 
thought,  but  they  felt  the  tremor  of  the  cos- 
mic movement  and  have  not  been  quite  the 
same  as  before.  Thinker  and  non-thinker 
alike,  whether  in  the  Occident  or  the  Orient, 
have  been  left  with  deep  questionings  which 
still  await  new  revelations  of  truth  and  new 
demonstrations  of  values.  Some  old  beliefs 
have  been  tested  and  found  untenable.  They 
gave  way  in  the  time  of  crisis  when  most 
needed.  Their  foundations  had  been  decep- 
tively laid.  They  can  never  be  reinstated. 
The  overthrow  of  cherished  beliefs  opens  the 
way  for  the  suspicion  of  all  behefs  and  makes 
difficult  the  implanting  of  that  which  is  true 
and  reliable.  This  is  the  state  of  much  of  the 
world's  people  to-day.     They  have   cast  off 


268     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

their  beliefs  and  shut  the  door  of  their  minds 
to  all  things  religious.  They  can  be  brought 
back  to  faith,  any  faith,  only  by  the  most  sym- 
pathetic and  human  interpretations  of  re- 
ligious values. 

That  the  religious  faith  of  the  vast  propor- 
tion of  mankind  has  been  severely  strained  in 
these  recent  years  cannot  be  gainsaid.  For  a 
half  century  Christian  missionaries  have  been 
undermining  the  religious  beliefs  of  the  Ori- 
ent. Every  effort  has  been  made  to  show  the 
inadequacy,  if  not  the  falsity,  of  their  faiths. 
The  full  force  of  western  civilization  has  been 
employed  to  demonstrate  the  superiority  of 
Christianity  and  the  weakness  of  the  Oriental 
beliefs.  Nothing,  or  scarcely  anything,  has 
gone  from  the  West  to  the  East  that  did  not 
make  for  the  overthrow  of  the  established  re- 
ligious faiths.  Unfortunately  not  everything 
has  made  for  the  acceptance  and  practice  of 
Christianity.  The  East  has  been  made  to 
realize  that  the  western  world,  the  world  of 
progress,  power  and  prospect,  discounted  the 
religions  of  Confucius,  Laotze,  Buddha,  Mo- 
hammed and  the  rest  and  exalted  only  Chris- 
tianity. This  fearful  impact  has  had  tremen- 
dous effect  upon  the  confidence  of  the  leaders 
of  the  East  in  the  faith  of  their  fathers.    The 


CONSTRUCTING  ADEQUATE  FAITH      269 

positive  result  for  Christianity  has  not  been  so 
great.  The  European  conflict  of  so-called 
Christian  nations  raised  unanswerable  ques- 
tions in  their  minds  as  to  the  claims  of  the  pro- 
ponents of  Christianity.  After  all,  is  Chris- 
tianity the  real  religion  for  the  race?  China 
has  always  been  a  peace-loving  land  and  a  be- 
liever in  the  irrationality  of  war.  Is  Chris- 
tianity the  religion  of  war?  With  the  Oriental 
religions  demonstrated  to  be  erroneous  and 
false  and  Christianity  exhibited  as  incompe- 
tent in  a  crisis,  what  shall  man  believe?  This 
is  largely  the  state  of  mind  toward  religion  in 
the  Orient  and  the  inevitable  result  is  coarse 
materialism  and  defiant  agnosticism. 

The  Levant  has  been  dominated  by  Moham- 
medanism for  many  centuries  and  that  blight 
has  rested  heavily  upon  many  lands.  The 
blood-thirsty  Turk  ruled  by  the  sword  of 
Allah,  while  his  Sultan  reigned  as  Caliph  over 
the  entire  Mohammedan  world.  The  thirty 
million  Mohammedans  in  China,  the  sixty- 
two  millions  in  India,  the  practically  full  pop- 
ulation of  Egypt  and  Arabia  and  vast  masses 
in  North  and  Central  Africa,  and  much  of 
Western  Asia,  have  been  taught  to  believe  in 
the  invincibility  of  Mohammed  and  the  final 
supremacy  of  his  faith.    The  World  War  was 


270      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

a  tremendous  revelation  of  the  force  and  su- 
periority of  Christian  civilization  and  the 
weakness  before  it  of  all  that  JNIohammedanism 
had  built  up.  This  rude  shock  has  severely 
strained  the  confidence  of  Mohammedans  in 
their  religion  and  the  Sovereign  God  behind 
it,  of  whom  Mohammed  is  the  prophet.  Be- 
fore the  war  no  Moslem  was  allowed  to  pro- 
fess Christ  and  live  in  a  Moslem  community. 
The  well-known  representative  of  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association,  Mr.  Sherwood 
Eddy,  reports  a  marvelous  change  in  the  atti- 
tude of  the  Moslems.  He  finds  that  great 
numbers  of  them  are  anxious  to  hear  the  Chris- 
tian gospel  and  some  are  accepting  Christ. 
When  there  is  such  a  break  in  a  religious  faith 
as  the  war  made  in  the  Moslem  world,  skepti- 
cism is  inevitable.  But  the  war  has  not  done 
it  all.  The  Levant  has  been  looking  upon 
great  beacons  in  the  Christian  schools  and  the 
groups  of  devout,  intelligent  Christian  adher- 
ents which  have  been  gathered  under  mission- 
ary tutelage.  The  clefts  in  rock-ribbed  Mo- 
hammedanism made  by  Christian  forces  have 
become  new  doors  in  the  Near  East  for  the  in- 
troduction of  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.  With 
a  break  in  Mohammedanism  Christianity  may 
propose  an  adequate  religious  faith. 


CONSTRUCTING  ADEQUATE  FAITH     271 

Eastern  Europe,  from  the  Hellespont  to 
the  Baltic  Sea,  is  in  ignominious  confusion. 
Rumania  and  Poland  are  under  the  dominion 
of  the  Roman  pope.  A  more  fanatically  Ro- 
man Catholic  people  than  the  Poles  cannot  be 
found.  The  Jews  of  Russia  and  Poland, 
numbering  about  seven  out  of  the  eleven  mil- 
lions in  the  world,  still  cling  to  the  old  tradi- 
tionalism of  their  race  and  religion,  but  they 
are  greatly  involved  in  the  political  maelstrom 
of  Russia.  Their  religious  faith  is  far  from 
having  genuine  soul  value.  Those  w^ho  get 
away  and  come  to  America  exhibit  a  fearful 
break-down  in  all  that  made  Judaism  a  vessel 
of  truth  to  humanity.  The  Orthodox  Greek 
Church  before  the  war  was  dominant  in 
Greece,  Servia,  Bulgaria  and  Russia.  The 
Czar  was  the  head  of  the  Russian  Church  and 
its  ecclesiastics  were  politically  appointed  and 
devoted  to  political  ends.  The  revolution  that 
played  havoc  with  everything  political,  social 
and  industrial  in  Russia  spared  not  the  estab- 
lished Church.  The  chaos  that  reigns  in  all 
other  matters  is  just  as  pronounced  in  religion. 
However,  even  before  the  fall  of  the  Roman- 
offs seventy  percent  of  the  people  had  little 
relation  to  the  church.  With  the  ecclesiasti- 
cism  that  directed  what  did  exist  gone  and  the 


272      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

leaders  of  the  ruling  parties  arrayed  against 
religion  in  every  form,  the  condition  of  re- 
ligious faith  can  be  readily  imagined.  Greece 
has  not  suffered  so  much,  but  political  revolu- 
tions have  had  disastrous  effect  upon  religion. 
Servia  and  Bulgaria  and  Czecho- Slovakia — 
the  latter  largely  Roman  Catholic  and  the 
others  Greek  Orthodox — have  only  the  empty 
shells  of  religious  formalism  without  the  life 
and  vigor  of  a  genuine  faith.  In  no  part  of 
the  world  has  religious  faith  been  brought  to 
a  lower  ebb  than  in  Eastern  Europe. 

Western  and  Central  Europe  have  not 
shown  any  marked  changes.  Great  Britain 
did  not  lose  religiously  by  the  war.  Ag- 
nosticism is  no  more  pronounced,  the  indiffer- 
ent no  more  numerous ;  but  on  the  other  hand, 
the  churches  are  more  hopeful  and  the  spirit 
of  unity  among  them  has  made  progress. 
Germany  has  passed  before  the  judgment  of 
the  world  and  her  religious  teachers  have  been 
severely  censured.  What  the  effect  will  be 
upon  her  new  scholarship  in  Biblical  interpre- 
tation and  theological  doctrines  cannot  yet  be 
known.  There  is  every  reason  to  believe  that 
German  religious  thought  will  profit  by  the 
fiery  testing,  while  the  faith  of  the  plain  peo- 
ple by  reason  of  the  great  sorrow  and  pro- 


CONSTRUCTING  ADEQUATE  FAITH     273 

longed  suffering  will  be  held  firm.  France 
has  long  been  the  hotbed  of  atheism,  agnosti- 
cism and  religious  destitution.  The  war  has 
been  of  meager  profit.  The  French  Govern- 
ment has  recently  established  diplomatic  re- 
lations with  the  Vatican,  but  this  is  for  politi- 
cal purposes  only  and  signifies  nothing  re- 
ligiously. France  feels  the  need  just  now  of 
all  the  aid  she  can  command  for  her  national 
safety.  This  action  may  draw  Rome  from 
Germany,  for  whom  there  were  many  indica- 
tions of  the  Pope's  sympathy  before  imperial- 
ism fell.  Rome  is  always  ready  for  a  good 
political  bargain  and  this  has  been  made  in  es- 
tablishing governmental  relations  with  France. 
The  estrangement  which  has  existed  for  fifty 
years  between  the  Vatican  and  the  Italian 
Government  has  been  somewhat  assuaged  and 
during  the  Fiume  episode,  when  the  govern- 
ment needed  assistance,  a  large  number  of 
high  church  ofiicials  were  raised  to  places  in 
the  nobility.  Rome  has  made  much  of  the  ex- 
tremities of  nations  to  recoup  her  old  places 
of  influence  and  power.  That  religious  faith 
has  been  strengthened  in  any  of  this  no  one 
would  dare  to  claim.  Not  faith  but  fear  has 
forged  the  new  bonds. 

Dr.  Robert  F.  Horton,  the  distinguished 


274      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

English  Congregationalist,  a  few  years  ago, 
wrote  "The  CathoHc  Church  is  discredited  in 
Cathohc  countries  and  flourishes  only  in  Prot- 
estant countries  by  virtue  of  the  very  liberty 
which  she  herself  has  consistently  denied. 
There  is  hardly  a  country  in  Europe  in  which 
the  strength  and  the  manhood  are  not  arrayed 
against  Catholicism."  Again  he  says,  "Prot- 
estantism has  made  the  return  to  Catholicism 
impossible  for  progressive  nations  and  for 
fearless  lovers  of  the  truth.  If  it  has  not  suc- 
cessfully presented  the  truth  of  Christianity, 
it  has  at  any  rate  demonstrated  that  the  truth 
of  Christianity  is  very  different  from  Catholic 
truth,  and  it  has  made  an  impression  on  the 
thinking  part  of  Europe,  which  can  never  be 
removed,  that  Christianity  means  the  identifi- 
cation of  religion  and  moralit}^."  Komanism 
for  a  time  may  be  able  to  play  a  strengthened 
political  role,  but  it  can  never  reinstate  itself 
as  a  religion.  The  choice  in  Europe  in  the 
future  will  be  between  Protestantism  and  ag- 
nosticism. 

Romanism  still  holds  its  heavy  hand  upon 
South  America,  but  not  with  the  same  arro- 
gance as  in  earlier  days.  Its  ecclesiastics  have 
come  to  realize  that  only  by  heroic  endeavors, 
if  at  all,  can  it  stay  the  rising  tide  of  religious 


CONSTRUCTING  ADEQUATE  FAITH     275 

liberty  and  eventual  Protestantism.  It  is 
prominent  in  all  political  campaigns  in  all  the 
republics,  but  it  suffers  defeats  increasingly. 
In  October,  1920,  its  own  chosen  candidate  for 
president  of  Chile  was  defeated  by  a  pro- 
nounced liberal  whose  sympathies  with  Prot- 
estantism were  well  known.  Some  of  the  state 
governors  in  Brazil  are  out  and  out  evangeli- 
cal Christians,  while  several  others  are  anti- 
Romanist  or  decidedly  hberal.  The  Roman 
Catholic  Church  is  regarded  in  South  America 
much  more  as  a  political  party  than  as  a  re- 
ligious organization.  Ecuador  has  never  been 
entered  by  a  great  missionary  Board,  and  it 
has  less  than  one  hundred  Evangelical  Church 
members,  yet  its  constitution  is  surprisingly 
advanced  and  liberal.  The  turbulence  of  its 
history  has  been  due  to  the  struggle  between 
the  Liberal  and  Romanist  parties.  The  Lib- 
eral party  is  now  in  power,  but  the  Clerical 
party  is  strong  and  loses  no  opportunity  to  re- 
gain its  domination.  Society  holds  to  the 
church  as  the  best  means  of  maintaining  and 
exhibiting  its  aristocracy,  and  by  this  Roman- 
ism feels  secure.  In  Brazil  a  great  era  of 
Church  building  is  on.  In  some  places  great 
cathedrals  are  being  erected.  But  these  are 
not  increasing  the  regard  for  the  Church,  or 


276      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

even  staying  the  tide  of  Protestant  sympathy. 
The  ahgnments  which  the  South  American  re- 
pubhcs  are  making  with  Protestant  countries 
are  loosening  the  grip  of  Romanism.  But  an 
age  of  doubt  is  more  apt  to  follow  than  a  new 
era  of  genuine  saving  faith.  In  fact,  South 
America  is  beginning  to  show  strongly  the 
tendency  to  skepticism  in  rebellion  to  the 
dominance  of  ecclesiastical  hierarchy.  Re- 
ligious faith,  genuine,  true,  redemptive,  must 
be  yet  constructed  in  South  America  before 
those  countries  of  unlimited  possibilities  can 
be  called  truly  Christian.  What  has  been  said 
of  these  can  be  just  as  correctly  said  of  all 
Latin  American  countries.  Not  only  so,  but 
great  bodies  of  immigrants  from  Latin  Amer- 
ica, and  Latin  Europe,  from  Slavic  lands 
and  Oriental  regions  now  in  the  United 
States  are  without  an  adequate  religious 
faith,  as  understood  by  Evangelical  Chris- 
tians. Not  only  has  religious  faith  been 
severely  strained  by  the  war,  but  it  has  suf- 
fered by  the  infusions  due  to  immigrant  tides. 
Christianity  faces  to-day  the  most  exacting 
conditions  of  any  era  in  its  history.  Whether 
or  not  it  prevails  will  depend  upon  its  ability 
to  define  and  defend  before  mankind  a  re- 
ligious faith  that  is  adequate  to  the  demands 


CONSTRUCTING  ADEQUATE  FAITH      277 

of  the  mind,  heart  and  will  of  man  in  the  world 
of  to-day. 

II 

Religion  suffers  in  many  lands  and  among 
many  individuals  in  all  lands  because  of  a 
lack  of  proper  basis,  a  sufficient  ground  work, 
an  adequate  foundation.  There  are  often 
wanting  well-founded  principles,  sane  and 
comprehensive,  to  direct  the  worshiper  and  re- 
late him  to  the  life  and  experience  to  be  at- 
tained through  that  worship.  With  more  than 
half  the  world's  population  religion  is  based 
upon  incomprehension,  mystery  and  manifes- 
tations that  lie  without  the  range  of  under- 
standing. All  nature  worship  is  of  that  kind. 
Idolatry  is  worship  based  upon  incomprehen- 
sion. The  sense  of  the  supernatural  is  pres- 
ent but  it  is  clothed  with  the  mysterious.  The 
ghost  dance  of  a  Kiowa  Indian  puts  the  leader 
in  a  hypnotic  frenzy,  aided  by  the  narcotic 
effect  of  some  herb,  and  this  man  in  his  wild 
dreams  sees  visions  and  becomes  the  oracle  to 
the  community.  The  people  accept  his  impo- 
sitions because  neither  they  nor  he  understands 
the  forces  that  are  acting  upon  him.  The 
whirling  Dervishes  in  Egypt  come  into  the 
same  sort  of  hypnotic  state,  and  the  mystery 


278      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

of  it  is  overwhelming,  and  spirits  are  given 
the  credence  which  intelhgence  would  have  de- 
nied. All  superstition  is  the  direct  outcome 
of  pure  ignorance  whether  found  among  can- 
nibal tribes  or  civilized  people.  The  supersti- 
tion about  Friday,  the  number  thirteen,  the 
haunted  house,  has  come  down  from  ignorant 
people  and  is  perpetuated  by  those  who  refuse 
to  use  their  intelligence.  Religion  in  the  non- 
Christian  and  semi-Christian  world  is  built 
upon  incomprehension  and  as  a  result  it  sup- 
ports and  is  supported  by  all  sorts  of  super- 
stition and  symbolism.  In  a  city  of  thirty 
thousand  people  in  Brazil  during  the  malig- 
nant epidemic  of  influenza  in  1918  the  city 
authorities  had  ordered  that  no  public  assem- 
blies be  had  for  a  month.  In  the  midst  of 
it  all  on  Sunday  afternoon  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic priests  in  their  official  robes  led  a  great 
concourse  of  people  through  the  streets  chant- 
ing prayers  and  making  demonstrations  about 
four  images  borne  in  different  sections  of  the 
throng.  The  multitude  returned  to  the  cathe- 
dral for  prayer.  The  object  of  it  was  to  ban- 
ish the  influenza  from  the  city.  "My  people 
are  destroyed  for  lack  of  knowledge."  These 
were  supposedly  Christian  people  led  by  the 
priests   of  the   pretentious   Roman    Catholic 


CONSTRUCTING  ADEQUATE  FAITH      279 

Church.  When  war  was  on  between  Russia 
and  Japan  the  Czar  had  "icons,"  the  church 
images,  in  the  lead  of  his  armies  in  their  strug- 
gle with  the  ^'heathen."  Hosea's  other  words 
seem  applicable.  "Because  thou  hast  rejected 
knowledge  I  will  also  reject  thee,  that  thou 
shalt  be  no  priest  to  me." 

Romanism  has  built  its  system  of  worship 
very  largely  upon  mystery.  Why  all  the  gen- 
uflection, making  the  sign  of  the  cross,  ringing 
a  bell  at  the  prayer  of  consecration  in  the  mass, 
except  to  clothe  it  all  with  mystery!  Why  is 
the  ritual  in  a  dead  language,  incomprehensible 
to  the  vast  majority  of  the  worshipers?  They 
claim  it  is  to  make  it  universal,  but  in  reality 
it  is  for  the  purpose  of  mystery.  Why  has 
Mexico  its  lady  of  Guadalupe  and  South 
America  its  lady  of  Penha?  Mystery!  Half 
of  the  effectiveness  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
worship  is  due  to  mystery,  the  sense  of  the 
supernatural  coming  from  incomprehension. 
The  firm  grip  of  the  priesthood  is  due  in  no 
small  way  to  the  doctrine  of  the  mysterious, 
incomprehensible  purgatory.  The  perfidy  of 
the  entire  system  of  bought  indulgences  is  sup- 
ported by  incomprehension.  Why  this  con- 
tinual "Ave  Maria"  or  "Hail  Mary"  as  it 
means  in  English?     There  is  magic  in  it  that 


280      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

makes  efficacy  for  the  indulgences.  The  Ro- 
sary is  a  string  of  beads  divided  into  ten  sets 
of  ten  beads  and  separated  by  each  eleventh. 
Each  set  counts  a  "Hail  Mary."  The  recital 
of  the  Lord's  Prayer  at  these  beads  and  the 
repetition  of  the  "Hail  Mary"  or  "Ave  Maria" 
are  reckoned  to  have  great  virtue.  By  these 
repetitions  indulgences  come.  The  editor  of  a 
Roman  Catholic  paper  recently  stated  that  by 
saying  a  single  pair  of  the  beads,  requiring  ten 
to  fifteen  minutes,  the  devout  Romanist  may 
receive  409  years  and  310  days  of  indulgence. 
Surely  only  the  lack  of  comprehension  of  the 
meaning  of  Christianity  and  an  understanding 
of  the  Bible  record  of  Jesus  Christ  would  tol- 
erate such  ridiculous  pretension.  But  the  mys- 
tery of  the  unseen  world,  the  priestly  presenta- 
tion of  purgatory,  and  the  incomprehensive  ele- 
ments in  the  worship  have  bound  the  Roman- 
ists in  chains  and  they  cannot  free  their  en- 
slaved minds  and  hearts.  No  Protestant  can 
ever  hear  sung  the  "Ave  Maria"  and  "My 
Rosary"  without  being  conscious  of  the  intol- 
erable superstitions  which  lie  behind  them. 

In  Tokyo  I  went  once  into  a  Buddhist  tem- 
ple. There  was  much  that  was  strange.  The 
entire  worship  of  the  people  seemed  pitiable 
because  of  evident  incomprehension.     In  the 


CONSTRUCTING  ADEQUATE  FAITH      281 

temple  there  stood  a  wooden  human  statue  to 
which  the  people  went.  Those  who  had  rheu- 
matism in  the  arm  or  shoulder  or  knee  rubbed 
that  part  of  the  statue,  expecting  to  get  relief 
thereby  from  the  god  in  the  statue.  "Pagan- 
ism!'' one  says.  Ten  years  after  I  was  in  Para 
on  the  Amazon  and  visited  the  Nazareth 
Church.  One  room  in  this  great  sanctuary  was 
filled  with  wooden  arms,  legs,  heads  and  ships, 
street  cars  and  other  means  of  conveyance. 
They  were  brought  by  devout  worshipers  who 
had  been  saved  from  disaster  on  water  or  land 
or  healed  of  diseases  in  various  parts  of  the 
body.  Was  the  latter  any  less  heathen  than 
the  former?  All  over  the  non-Christian  and 
semi-Christian  countries  in  Asia,  Africa,  Eu- 
rope and  Latin  America  these  instances  can 
be  endlessly  multiplied.  Where  illiteracy 
abounds  as  it  does  in  practically  all  Roman 
Catholic,  Mohammedan  and  non-Christian 
countries,  religion  is  based  largely  upon  in- 
comprehension, mystery,  weakness  and  fear. 

It  is  often  held  that  Romanism  and  Greek 
Orthodoxy  are  best  for  the  people  of  certain 
countries  because  they  are  not  mentally  capa- 
ble of  spiritual  conceptions,  intellectually 
formed  and  supported.  Symbolism  is  the 
crutch  of  incomprehension  and  has  always  at- 


282      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

tended  worship  that  is  based  upon  the  mys- 
terious. Image  worship  is  not  always  worship 
of  the  image,  but  rather  worship  through  the 
image.  Roman  altars  are  always  filled  with 
pictures  of  the  Virgin  or  statues  of  Jesus  in 
infancy,  in  his  acts  of  mercy,  or  in  the  scenes 
of  his  passion.  Unfortunately  these  symbols 
for  the  intellectually  semi-dependent  become 
objects  of  worship  to  the  vast  throngs  of  men- 
tally destitute.  In  Latin  countries  images  on 
cards  or  flags  are  placed  in  the  homes,  or  on 
poles  in  the  yards,  to  ward  off  evil  spirits  and 
to  bring  good  fortune.  This  is  a  common  sight. 
Demonology  almost  always  accompanies  sym- 
bolism and  employs  the  images  in  the  work 
of  necromancy.  What  were  once  intended  by 
the  Christian  Church  to  be  aids  to  worship 
have  become  stumbling  blocks  in  the  way  of 
spiritual  discernment  and  religious  comprehen- 
sion. The  religion  of  humanity  is  cluttered 
up  with  the  toys  of  faith  made  sacred  by  long 
usage  and  holy  association.  Before  worship 
rises  to  the  spiritual  the  temple  must  be 
cleansed.  Only  so  will  men  come  to  "Worship 
in  spirit  and  in  truth." 

The  symbolism  of  Romanism  is  its  inherit- 
ance from  paganism  and  is  utterly  without 
basis  in  anything  that  Jesus  did  or  said.    Juda- 


CONSTRUCTING  ADEQUATE  FAITH      283 

ism  with  its  Mosaic  ceremonies  and  laws  of 
sacrifice  were  forever  transformed  by  the 
spirit,  teachings  and  personality  of  Jesus 
Christ.  The  same  power  will  cleanse  Roman- 
ism and  all  forms  of  semi-Christian  and  non- 
Christian  thought  if  access  to  the  minds,  hearts 
and  lives  of  the  people  can  be  obtained.  Re- 
ligion suffers  also  from  the  dominance  of  hu- 
man authority  so  widely  exercised  by  the 
priesthood.  The  day  is  on  when  the  priest  in 
non-Christian  lands  and  Rome  controlled  coun- 
tries is  not  highly  regarded  for  his  personal 
piety  or  powers  but  he  is  obeyed  because  of 
the  authority  which  is  supposed  to  rest  in  him. 
The  old  Roman  institution  has  always  inter- 
preted and  represented  Christianity  as  the 
authority  of  a  sacerdotal  hierarchy  to  disci- 
pline, dominate  and  destine  human  souls.  It 
admits  no  right  of  liberty  in  thought  or  action. 
In  keeping  with  its  historic  spirit  Romanism 
is  concerned  all  but  entirely  with  the  observ- 
ance of  traditional  rites,  the  maintenance  of 
superstitions  as  well  as  supernatural  beliefs, 
the  performance  of  its  divine  sacraments  which 
the  priesthood  controls,  and  the  promotion  of 
political  ends  and  purposes.  That  kind  of 
an  institution  not  only  can  have  no  part  in  a 
modern  intellectual  movement  for  the  world 


284     MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

but  it  even  creates  revulsion  and  provokes  to 
revolution  in  the  patrons  and  promoters  of 
learning.  The  major  portion  of  the  agnos- 
ticism and  atheism  to  be  found  in  Europe  and 
Latin  America  to-day,  and  there  is  very  much 
indeed,  can  be  traced  to  a  contempt  for  Ro- 
manism with  its  tyrannical  ecclesiasticism,  its 
sordid  traditionalism,  its  stubborn  scholasti- 
cism and  its  unmitigated  medievalism.  The 
arrogant  pretender  to  final  wisdom  and  author- 
ity has  no  password  to  the  precincts  of  modern 
knowledge,  nor  to  the  halls  of  liberty  in 
thought,  action  and  religion. 

The  Vatican  Council  in  1870  declared  "The 
Roman  Pontiff,  when  speaking  ex  cathedra 
— that  is,  when  performing  the  office  of  Pas- 
tor and  Doctor  of  all  Christians — he  defines, 
in  virtue  of  his  superior  authority,  a  point  of 
doctrine  touching  faith  and  morals,  obligatory 
for  the  entire  Church — the  Roman  Pontiff, 
thanks  to  the  divine  assistance  which  was  prom- 
ised to  him  in  the  person  of  the  most  blessed 
Peter  enjoys  that  infallible  authority,  with 
which  the  divine  Redeemer  endowed  his  church, 
when  the  question  arises  of  defining  doctrine 
concerning  faith  or  morals.  The  definitions 
of  the  Roman  Pontiff  are  then  unchangeable 


CONSTRUCTING  ADEQUATE  FAITH      285 

in  themselves  and  are  not  rendered  such  by 
the  consent  of  the  Church."  Popes  Pius  IX 
and  Leo  XIII,  great  masters  in  Romanism, 
decreed  to  the  subjects,  "In  the  matter  of 
thinking,  it  is  necessary  for  them  (Christian 
behevers)  to  embrace  and  firmly  hold  all  that 
the  Roman  Pontiffs  have  transmitted  to  them, 
or  shall  yet  transmit,  and  to  make  public  pro- 
fession of  them  as  often  as  circumstances  make 
necessary.  Especially  and  particularly  in 
what  is  called  modern  liberties,  they  must  abide 
by  the  judgment  of  the  Apostolic  See,  and 
each  believer  is  bound  to  believe  thereupon 
what  the  Holy  See  itself  thinks."  Think  of 
there  being  sixteen  million  persons  in  the 
United  States  of  America,  the  land  of  George 
Washington  and  Thomas  Jefferson,  of  Abra- 
ham Lincoln,  Theodore  Roosevelt  and  Wood- 
row  Wilson,  in  such  galling  bonds  of  intellec- 
tual slavery!  Think  of  an  Irish  Republic 
dreaming  of  independence  with  such  a  creed 
dominating  its  Constitution!  Is  it  any  won- 
der that  in  enlightened  countries  to-day  it  is 
well  believed  that  such  ecclesiasticism  is  nec- 
essarily antagonistic  to  religion?  The  world 
to-day  might  be  far  on  toward  being  Christian 
had  it  been  served  these  last  sixteen  centuries 


286      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

by  the  Holy  Christ  Church  instead  of  intrigued 
and  dominated  by  the  Holy  Roman  Church. 
The  fallacy  in  the  dogma  of  the  infallibility 
of  the  Pope  is  to  be  found  in  the  expression 
*'that  infallible  authority  with  which  the  Divine 
Redeemer  endowed  his  church."  Evangelical 
Christianity  flatly  denies  that  any  infallible 
authority  was  ever  bestowed  upon  the  church. 
If  the  Church  has  such  authority,  and  the 
priesthood  is  the  Church,  then  poor  man  is 
a  victim  indeed  of  the  deficient  intelhgence  of 
Jesus  Christ  who  established  this  human  slav- 
ery forever  on  earth,  eternal  in  the  heavens. 
Belief  in  the  infallible  authority  of  the  Church 
is  the  foundation  of  the  credulity  that  supports 
the  unreasonable  pretensions  of  Romanism. 
The  confessional  is  the  seat  of  the  church,  and 
whatever  may  be  the  character  of  the  occu- 
pant, upright  or  vicious,  all  that  issues  there- 
from is  divinely  authoritative  and  must  be 
complied  with  to  escape  wrath  or  to  gain  vir- 
tue. The  Church  by  its  infallible  authority, 
dispenses  merit  in  baptism,  administers  the 
actual  flesh  and  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  in  the 
mass,  makes  the  only  possible  bond  between 
husband  and  wife,  cleanses  away  all  sin  in 
extreme  unction  and  makes  clear  the  way  to 
glory,  and  after  death  extricates  the  soul  from 


CONSTRUCTING  ADEQUATE  FAITH      287 

purgatory.  The  Church  can  do  all  this;  and 
the  priesthood  with  its  infallible  head  is  the 
Church!  That  is  what  millions  and  millions 
of  people,  mostly  illiterate,  believe!  The 
authority  of  the  priesthood  in  the  Orthodox 
Greek  Church  is  little  less  autocratic!  Is  it 
any  wonder  that  seventy  percent  of  all  the 
Roman  Catholic  and  Orthodox  Greek  popula- 
tion of  the  earth  cannot  read  or  write?  It  is 
superfluous  to  think.  Ask  the  priest!  It  is 
needless  to  read  the  Bible.  Ask  the  priest! 
The  Bible  is  what  he  says  it  is,  and  no  private 
opinion  is  allowed.  When  will  such  a  people 
ever  be  capable  of  rising  to  an  adequate  per- 
sonal religious  faith  in  Almighty  God  and 
His  only  begotten  Son,  the  complete  Savior 
of  all  men?  Yes,  to  make  the  world  Christian 
is  the  ultimate  objective  from  which  the  Chris- 
tianity of  Christ  must  never  recede.  These 
gross  perversions  of  Christian  doctrine  must  be 
met  and  corrected.  Similar  assertions  of  re- 
ligious authority  are  found  in  the  Mohamme- 
dan world  with  its  quarter  of  a  billion  people. 
Religious  liberty  is  really  the  possession  of  a 
very  small  portion  of  the  earth's  inhabitants. 
The  authority  of  the  priesthood  with  the  vast 
majority  is  the  foimdation  of  faith  and  the 
re  warder  of  the  faithful.     This  will  continue 


288      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

so  long  as  humanity  remains  three  quarters 
ilHterate,  the  slaves  of  incomprehension,  mys- 
tery, and  superstition.  The  despot  rules  from 
a  throne  of  darkness  and  maintains  his  su- 
premacy by  the  weakness  of  his  subjects. 
When  Romanism  becomes  seventy-five  per- 
cent literate  instead  of  illiterate,  and  Moham- 
medanism changes  its  ninety  percent  from  il- 
literacy to  literacy,  when  priest  controlled  be- 
lievers come  to  a  state  of  moderate  enlighten- 
ment, and  become  capable  of  knowledge,  rea- 
son, and  thinking  for  self,  then  "infallibilities" 
will  meet  the  shrug  of  the  shoulder  and  the 
wink  of  the  eye  and  authority  will  pass  from 
decrees  of  masters  to  the  testimony  of  reason 
and  revelation.  But  the  conditions  of  this 
transformation  herein  implied  necessitate  such 
a  production  of  intelligence  as  only  the  most 
gigantic  effort  can  bring  about.  The  world 
must  be  enabled  to  see  that  religion  has  a 
nobler  basis  than  the  authority  of  man,  how- 
ever that  authority  may  seem  to  have  been 
obtained.  Incomprehension,  mystery,  and 
authority  have  their  place  in  religion  as  in 
everything  else  in  a  finite  world,  but  they 
should  in  no  sense  be  determinate  of  the 
controlling  conceptions  of  human  life  and 
destiny. 


CONSTRUCTING  ADEQUATE  FAITH      289 

III 

Religious  conceptions  among  all  people  are 
undergoing  more  or  less  transformation.  So 
great  is  the  transformation  with  some  groups 
and  many  individuals  that  it  amounts  to  a  rev- 
olution. While  the  upheaval  produced  by  the 
Great  War  is  responsible  for  much  of  the  dis- 
turbance in  religious  beliefs,  yet  antedating 
the  war  forces  were  at  work  which  are  in  no 
small  way  responsible  for  this  transformation. 
Science,  the  scientific  spirit,  and  the  evolution- 
ary philosophy  which  science  developed  and 
largely  supported  have  subjected  all  concep- 
tions and  the  methods  of  getting  at  the  truth 
to  a  very  vigorous  examination  and  testing. 
Historical  criticism  in  the  last  four  decades 
has  had  an  amazing  influence  upon  the  inter- 
pretation of  the  Holy  Scriptures  and  the  prin- 
cipal doctrines  of  Christianity.  There  has  been 
much  misunderstanding  of  what  was  being  at- 
tempted and  of  what  was  really  done.  Vast 
numbers  thought  the  "ark"  was  in  grave  dan- 
ger and  rushed  frantically  and  fiercely  to  the 
defense  and  maintenance  of  the  grandfather 
views,  while  others  leaped  defiantly  to  the  "new 
theology"  of  the  grandson  possibilities  as  the 
last  word  in  Biblical  interpretations  and  theo- 


290      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

logical  knowledge.  Grandfathers  and  grand- 
sons have  their  days  but  the  living  present  is 
the  responsibility  of  the  living  generation. 
Theology  is  not  a  stable  thing.  It  changes 
with  every  variation  in  one's  general  view  of 
the  world.  The  theology  of  yesterday,  true 
then  with  its  light,  may  not  be  true  to-day 
with  its  added  light,  but  the  theology  of  to- 
day, if  true,  has  grown  out  of  the  theology 
of  yesterday.  A  new  theology  which  breaks 
with  the  past  never  succeeds  in  establishing 
itself.  However,  unless  theology  is  new,  fresh, 
living,  it  is  not  true.  Because  of  the  fact 
that  these  principles  have  not  been  kept  in 
mind  the  religious  conceptions  of  many  people 
have  suffered  in  the  recent  era  of  reconstruc- 
tion. Not  every  one  has  believed  as  Dr.  R.  F. 
Horton,  "The  scientific  spirit  has  been  the 
breath  of  life  to  Biblical  study,  to  dogmatic 
theology,  to  the  claims  of  the  Church.  It  is 
intrinsically  more  reverent  than  the  credulity 
which  gulps  down  the  superstition  and  the  un- 
proved dogmas  and  the  unsupported  claims 
of  traditions.'^  But  whether  believed  or  not, 
it  can  scarcely  be  denied  that  this  scientific 
spirit  and  its  attendant  influences  have 
wrought  remarkable  transformations  in  the  re- 
ligious conceptions  of  many  people  and  among 


CONSTRUCTING  ADEQUATE  FAITH     291 

them  the  most  cultured  and  the  most  virile 
intellectually.  While  there  has  been  great 
gain  in  many  quarters,  on  the  other  hand, 
there  has  been  disastrous  loss  in  many 
groups. 

In  view  of  the  state  of  the  oriental  mind 
and  its  religious  beliefs,  of  the  Mohammedan 
world  and  its  new  sense  of  Christian  superi- 
ority, of  the  East  European  masses  and  their 
terrible  confusion,  and  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
populations  and  their  growing  rebellion  against 
ecclesiastical  hierarchy,  what  should  be  the 
form  and  spirit  in  which  Christianity  shall  be 
presented  for  the  construction  of  an  adequate 
religious  faith?  There  is  general  agreement 
that  apostolic  Christianity  should  be  given  to 
the  world.  But  who  shall  decide  what  apos- 
tolic Christianity  is?  The  Romanist  and  the 
Anglican,  the  Calvinist  and  the  Arminian,  the 
Independent  and  the  Connectional,  all  have 
their  own  interpretation  of  this  same  apostolic 
Christianity,  supported  by  ample  evidence  and 
strong  reason.  Ministerial  orders  and  church 
sacraments,  the  forms  of  worship  and  modes 
of  administration  have  been  so  emphasized  as 
to  become  fundamental  to  faith  with  many  re- 
ligious bodies.  Inquisitions  and  ex-communi- 
eations,  sectarian  exclusiveness  and  opinion- 


292      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

atedness  have  resulted  from  the  inordinate  if 
not  unwarranted  stress  on  the  forms,  rights 
and  powers  of  ecclesiasticism.  The  rite  of  bap- 
tism in  mode,  meaning  and  subjects,  has  been 
made  of  determinative  importance  with  large 
groups,  while  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's 
Supper  has  become  a  fetish  with  sacerdotalists 
and  an  imperative  passport  to  vast  multitudes. 
The  church  with  the  Romanist  has  all  power 
over  the  lives  and  souls  of  men,  and  the  min- 
istry by  the  high  churchman  has  been  given 
a  vicegerency  of  heaven,  full  or  limited,  to  de- 
termine the  religious  and  eternal  status  of  hu- 
manity. There  are  also  the  prophetically  pre- 
tentious who  make  bold  to  set  times  and  sea- 
sons for  God's  activities  and  mark  the  mil- 
lennium and  scenes  of  the  Lord's  physical  oc- 
cupancy of  the  earth.  Those  who  claim  the 
effulgence  of  the  Inner  Light,  or  the  exclu- 
sive baptism  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  or  the  extraor- 
dinary supernatural  gifts  indicated  in  the  New 
Testament  believe  themselves  alone  to  have 
found  the  apostolic  way.  The  higher  critic, 
the  lower  critic,  and  the  anti-critic  critic  have 
all  set  up  themselves  as  the  true  interpreters 
of  apostolic  Christianity.  What  shall  the 
world  hear  and  believe  when  strident  voices 
cry  "Lo  here,"  "Lo  there"  and  multiply  con- 


CONSTRUCTING  ADEQUATE  FAITH     293 

fusion  for  tliose  already  confounded  ?  Is  there 
no  voice  to  be  lifted  above  all  the  rest  that 
can  direct  to  "the  way,  the  truth,  the  life?" 
Has  not  Christianity  some  strong  cen- 
tral stream  where  the  great  body  of  its  cur- 
rent makes  for  the  ocean  of  Eternal  truth? 
Christendom  presents  to  the  world  the  aspect 
of  chaos  by  reason  of  its  fierce  contentions  over 
shades  of  doctrines,  the  significance  of  the 
forms,  modes  and  rites,  and  the  powers  of  its 
instruments  and  agents.  To  transfer  all  this 
to  the  non-Christian  peoples  is  scarcely  fair  to 
them  nor  is  it  in  harmony  with  the  spirit  of 
the  Master  who  said,  "Go  teach  all  nations." 
Yet,  just  this  is  being  done. 

The  contention  for  the  faith  once  delivered 
to  the  saints,  so  ardently  enjoined  upon  the 
early  disciples,  has  frequently  been  interpreted 
to  mean  contention  for  beliefs  or  formulas  of 
beliefs  as  stated  in  some  early  period  or  by 
some  patristic  ecclesiastical  council.  Ortho- 
doxy is  often  made  to  mean  conformity  to 
formulas  of  doctrines  set  forth  by  eminent  men 
in  some  early  or  middle  century  of  the  Chris- 
tian Era.  But  orthodoxy  is  not  conformity  to 
a  static  mass  of  religious  conceptions  meta- 
physically expressed,  but  to  a  stream  of  theo- 
logical thought  channeled  by  the  great  religious 


294      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

thinkers  of  its  age.  What  reason  is  there  to 
believe  that  the  fourth  century  or  the  fifth, 
or  the  sixth,  with  its  Mediterranean  center  of 
religious  life  and  thought  was  more  capable 
of  formulating  a  correct  orthodox  theology 
than  the  twentieth  with  its  world  comprehen- 
sion, scientific  information  and  philosophical 
generalization  and  the  rich  accumulation  of 
fifteen  centuries  of  illuminating  experience  and 
majestic  thought?  Dogmas  out  of  which  for- 
mal theology  is  produced  are  always  metaphys- 
ically conceived  and  expressed,  and  the  meta- 
physics of  the  age  of  creed  making  have  al- 
ways been  determinative  of  the  formulas  of 
Christian  doctrines.  The  impatience  of  this 
era  with  the  historic  dogmas  and  creeds  is  not 
due  to  any  loss  of  interest  in  and  concern  for 
their  real  Christian  doctrinal  content  but  to  a 
lack  of  sympathy  with  the  metaphysics  of  the 
periods  in  which  these  historic  statements 
came  into  form.  The  interpretation  of  the 
contents  of  these  statements  do  not  always,  by 
any  means,  coincide  with  those  of  the  formula- 
tors  of  the  statements,  and  they  show  variety 
according  to  the  interpreters.  Where  is  the 
orthodoxy?  In  the  agreement  with  the  early 
creed  formulators  or  with  the  main  body  of 
the    late    Christian    interpreters?      In    other 


CONSTRUCTING  ADEQUATE  FAITH      295 

words  is  living  Christianity  in  its  theological 
conceptions  a  voice  or  an  echo? 

The  Christian  propaganda  has  reached  the 
point  where  these  questions  are  thrusting 
themselves  into  the  foreground.  Evangelical 
Christianity  has  fought  the  battle  for  religious 
liberty  and  is  still  in  the  fray.  What  is  re- 
ligious liberty?  Liberty  for  what,  from  what, 
and  to  do  what  ?  Ruskin  once  heard  a  sermon 
in  Turin  which  he  said  made  him  turn  away 
from  religious  faith.  He  said,  "A  little 
squeaking  idiot  was  preaching  away  to  an 
audience  of  seventeen  old  women  and  three 
louts  that  they  were  the  only  children  of  God 
in  Turin  and  that  all  the  people  outside  the 
chapel,  and  all  the  people  in  the  world  out 
of  sight  of  Mount  Viso  would  be  damned." 
Narrowness  that  breeds  contempt  and  latitudi- 
narianism  that  practically  annuls  conviction  are 
enemies  to  Christianity  and  deaden  its  appeals. 
Intolerance  in  the  Protestant  of  the  twentieth 
century  is  just  as  censurable  as  the  intolerance 
of  the  Romanist  of  any  century.  An  inquisi- 
tion is  odious  in  any  period  in  any  form,  or 
by  any  people.  On  the  other  hand  the  toler- 
ance that  is  so  broad  and  liberal  as  to  make 
friends  of  anything  and  stand  for  nothing  cre- 
ates no  convictions,  produces  no  faith,  sup- 


296      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

ports  no  movements,  achieves  no  ends,  and  is 
almost  as  detestable  as  intolerant  narrowness. 
Religious  liberty  is  fundamental  in  Christian- 
ity but  religious  conviction  founded  upon  rev- 
elation and  experience  and  supported  by  rea- 
son is  the  essential  dynamic  in  all  religious 
propaganda.  But  the  Biblical  revelation,  the 
theological  interpretation,  and  the  Christian 
experience  are  not  possessed  entirely  by  any 
one  man  or  one  school  of  thinkers.  No  greater 
mistake  is  ever  made  by  a  Christian  than  when 
he  supposes  that  he  has  the  complete  vision 
of  religious  things.  Finite  beings  are  made 
so  as  to  be  the  complements  of  each  other  at 
getting  at  the  whole  truth  and  they  get  the 
truth  only  as  they  recognize  this  relation  and 
the  necessity  of  man  to  man.  In  order  to  ar- 
rive at  reliable  religious  convictions  recogni- 
tion must  be  had  of  the  possible  correctness 
and  value  of  the  views  of  other  persons  who 
have  been  equally  diligent  and  honest  in  the 
search  for  the  divine  truth  and  equally  de- 
voted to  the  divine  Teacher  and  Lord. 

The  peril  to  missionaries  is  the  side  track 
in  theology,  the  switch  in  Biblical  interpreta- 
tion, the  narrow  gauge  in  Christian  experience. 
One  is  an  advocate  of  the  advanced  theology  of 
the  new  school,  one  a  defender  of  the  old  hard 


CONSTRUCTING  ADEQUATE  FAITH     297 

dead  creed,  one  is  a  second  blessing  sanctifica- 
tionist,  one  an  oil  and  prayer  healer,  one  a 
premillennialist  of  the  pessimistic  ready-at- 
hand-coming  type,  one  a  Sabbatarian  or  other 
literalist  who  interprets  by  the  letter  as  he 
likes  and  by  the  spirit  when  he  must.  Each 
is  vociferously  doing  his  utmost  to  make  a  main 
line  out  of  a  side  track  and  to  use  a  Mogul 
engine  on  a  narrow  gauge  road.  Collisions 
and  wrecks  have  been  unavoidable  and  the  re- 
sulting loss  of  life  has  been  incalculable.  To- 
day the  track  of  the  missionary  in  every  land 
is  strewn  with  the  debris  of  this  short-sighted 
strife  for  the  propagation  of  bits  of  beliefs, 
largely  speculative  in  character,  narrowly  ac- 
cepted in  Christendom  and  of  limited  impor- 
tance in  the  Christianization  of  the  world. 
Christianity  is  worthy  of  a  higher  presentation 
of  its  majestic  values  than  such  limited  though 
devout  representatives  have  given.  Trunk  line 
Christianity  only  with  its  broad  gauge,  its 
powerful  locomotives,  its  solidly  constructed 
cars  filled  with  imperishable,  well-ripened,  life- 
giving  truth  in  charge  of  a  strong,  capable, 
efficient  force  can  carry  salvation  to  this 
world.  Humanity  crowds  the  stations  when 
it  arrives  and  acknowledges  the  impact  of  a 
mighty  dynamic  when  it  passes.     It  awakens 


298      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

the  world  by  its  movements  and  feeds  man- 
kind with  its  cargo.  It  has  speed,  drive  and 
capacity  for  continental  service.  Sects  and 
denominations  may  label  the  cars,  but  the  con- 
tents should  be  only  what  the  spiritually  fam- 
ished world  requires  to  live.  When  trunk  line 
Christianity  has  right  of  way,  switches  will  be 
closed  and  side  tracks  shut  off,  and  without 
this  Christianity  must  come  to  a  standstill  and 
await  the  clearing  of  the  way. 

Missionaries  have  a  very  great  responsibility 
as  representatives  of  those  who  send  them  out, 
but  vastly  more  as  the  factor  in  presenting 
Christ  and  the  teachings  of  which  He  is  the 
center.  The  Gospel  is  their  comprehensive 
message,  but  preaching  the  Gospel  is  more 
than  reciting  some  formulas  of  a  bygone  age, 
or  proclaiming  the  speculations  as  to  some 
future  possibility.  The  Gospel  is  God's  age- 
less message  to  the  age.  Men  are  not  preach- 
ing to-day  to  the  people  of  the  fifth  century, 
or  the  tenth,  or  the  fifteenth,  or  even  to  the 
nineteenth.  The  people  of  the  twentieth  cen- 
tury await  God's  message  to  them  in  terms  of 
their  life  and  thought.  The  people  of  the  fifth 
century  would  have  been  bewildered  by  the 
speech  of  this  day  filled  as  it  is  with  concep- 
tions of  which  they  had  no  dream.     The  con- 


CONSTRUCTING  ADEQUATE  FAITH      299 

ceptions  of  the  fifth  century  are  too  limited 
to  bear  to  this  century  the  full  gospel  for  pres- 
ent day  humanity.  What  is  true  of  the  cen- 
turies is  equally  true  of  the  countries  in  the 
different  degrees  of  development.  The  faith 
of  every  age  must  find  expression  in  the  life  and 
thought  of  that  age  and  not  independent  of 
them.  Teachings  that  ignore  the  scientific  and 
the  philosophical  thinking  of  their  era  may  ap- 
peal to  the  ignorant,  the  credulous,  the  imagi- 
native, but  they  discount  Christianity  to  the 
thoughtful,  the  forceful  and  those  capable  of 
fashioning  the  world  to  the  high  standards  of 
an  adequate  religious  faith.  The  doctrines  of 
Christianity  are  not  embalmed  beliefs  handed 
down  from  apostolic  days  or  patristic  periods 
but  the  living,  throbbing,  thrilling  energies  of 
essential  religious  thought  and  experience  that 
link  man  and  God  to-day  in  the  issues  of  this 
present  life.  A  religious  faith  to  be  adequate 
to  the  age  must  harmonize  with  its  life,  throb 
with  its  energy  and  issue  in  purposeful,  puri- 
fied personality.  The  Gospel  that  men  are 
called  to  preach  is  the  power  of  God  in  this 
day  in  and  through  Jesus  Christ  to  redeem 
the  entire  world  and  everything  in  it,  and  to 
establish  His  reign  in  the  earth. 

The  outstanding  question  which  every  pro- 


300      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

mulgator  of  Christianity  is  compelled  to  an- 
swer is  what  are  the  bases,  the  elements,  and 
the  enduring  support  of  a  religious  faith  that 
is  adequate  to  the  time,  the  place  and  the 
conditions  in  which  humanity  lived?  The 
propaganda  that  carries  Christianity  to  the 
non-Christian  and  semi-Christian  peoples  car- 
ries also  intellectual  enlargement  with  its 
varied  science  and  extensive  philosophy.  Shall 
the  pathmaker  for  knowledge  be  turned  upon 
because  of  its  own  offense  to  religious  reason? 
This  will  happen  if  the  Christianity  preached 
is  not  true  to  the  essentials  in  religious  belief 
and  faithful  to  the  vital  religious  conceptions. 
The  world  is  not  being  converted  to  creeds  but 
to  Christ.  Salvation  is  not  in  shades  of  doc- 
trines but  in  flames  of  truth.  Men  do  not 
need  to  be  led  into  the  by-ways  of  religious 
speculation  but  out,  and  to  the  hilltops  of 
world  vision  where  transfigurations  transpire 
and  divine  fellowship  is  realized  and  heavenly 
aspirations  are  awakened.  History  is  the  best 
prophecy.  In  God's  footprints  men  will  find 
the  direction  of  his  present  and  future  move- 
ments. He  has  not  changed  his  course.  He 
has  published  his  destination  and  the  way  of 
his  journey,  and  signs  of  His  progress  mark 
the  wayside.     It  is  all  this  the  world  wants 


CONSTRUCTING  ADEQUATE  FAITH      301 

to  know,  and  needs  to  know,  and  is  lost  be- 
cause it  does  not  know.  Christianity  must 
be  true  to  history,  obedient  to  reason,  replete 
with  knowledge  that  God  be  revealed  and  that 
man  gets  related  to  the  eternal  things.  An 
adequate  faith  must  find  God,  get  His  course, 
see  his  footprints,  comprehend  his  purpose 
and  lay  hold  on  His  realities.  There  are  many 
other  things  that  are  valuable,  some  impor- 
tant, but  these  are  essential,  if  this  world  sets 
Christ  at  the  center  of  its  life  system.  Make 
the  Kingdom  of  God  the  chief  aim  and  all 
these  other  things  will  come  to  their  rightful 
place. 

IV 

The  basis  for  an  adequate  religious  faith 
is  a  body  of  irrefutable  facts  assembled  from 
revelation,  study  of  nature,  and  the  experi- 
ence of  the  race.  The  human  reason  must  be 
conceded  the  right  to  a  determining  voice  in 
the  validity  of  the  facts.  Faith  cannot  admit 
what  reason  absolutely  rejects.  Faith  is  called 
upon  to  go  beyond  knowledge,  but  it  must 
go  from  knowledge  and  not  independent  of 
it.  While  rationalism  is  too  short-armed  for 
faith,  yet  faith  is  too  fundamental  in  human 
life   to  be   irrational.      Hope  that  is   reason 


302      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

grounded  and  girded  is  confident  and  issues 
in  conscious  power,  but  the  hope  of  hazy  un- 
certainty and  doubtful  authority  leaves  life 
wavering.  The  best  destroyer  of  such  dark- 
ness and  the  fear  that  is  consequent  thereof 
is  light — light  emanating  from  constant  truth 
and  stable  realities.  Religious  conceptions  that 
carry  unquestionable  assurance,  unswerving 
stability  and  irresistible  force  are  based  upon 
undeniable  facts.  By  the  facts  of  revelation, 
the  facts  of  knowledge,  the  facts  of  religious 
experience  Christianity  will  win  its  case  in  the 
world,  and  in  no  other  way.  The  Christian 
faith  can  be  produced  only  by  the  Christian 
facts.  No  amount  of  esthetic  beauty,  or  phi- 
losophical analysis,  nor  any  kind  of  authority 
can  take  the  place  of  facts  for  faith.  The  re- 
ligious debility  so  common  even  among  sin- 
cere people  is  due  largely  to  an  absence  of 
a  factual  basis  in  their  religion.  Religion  that 
is  a  sort  of  esthetic  hobby,  a  kind  of  insurance, 
or  a  program  of  irksome  duty  is  wanting  in 
perspective  and  lacking  in  basic  principles. 
Christianity  is  not  only  a  body  of  principles 
but  a  record  of  historic  facts,  concrete  and 
outstanding,  visible  and  intelligible  to  men, 
and  its  coming  to  neglected  peoples  must  bring 
daybreak  to  humanity  and  sunrise  to  a  sleep- 


CONSTRUCTING  ADEQUATE  FAITH      303 

ing  or  groping  world.  The  facts  of  Chris- 
tianity constitute  its  supreme  apologetics  to 
the  intellectual  elements  of  the  race. 

The  supreme  authority  in  religion  is  truth, 
and  because  Christianity  claims  to  have  the 
truth  that  sanctifies  and  redeems  it  is  its  prov- 
ince to  make  known  the  facts  of  life,  human 
and  divine.  The  Holy  Scriptures  form  the 
faithful  record  of  man  in  his  progress  of  re- 
lationship to  Almighty  God  from  creation  to 
his  exaltation  in  the  incarnation.  The  early 
man  in  all  his  crudity,  animalism,  dullness  of 
comprehension  and  childish  conceptions  of  God 
is  portrayed  with  as  great  faithfulness  as  the 
Master  from  Tarsus  with  his  prodigious  sweep 
of  intellectuality,  his  vast  depth  of  religious 
comprehension,  and  his  sublime  interpretation 
of  the  Son  of  God.  Everywhere  and  at  all 
times  God  is  diligently  and  earnestly  seeking 
to  establish  connection  with  his  human  chil- 
dren to  whom  he  would  reveal,  as  they  are 
able  to  receive,  the  secrets  of  his  eternal  pur- 
pose. It  is  not  authority  over  them  but  fel- 
lowship with  them  that  He  would  establish. 
When  humanity  was  in  its  childhood  His 
directions  were  conceived  as  statutes  and  form- 
ulated as  laws,  but  in  its  maturity  they  are 
reckoned  eternal  principles  and  made  basic  in 


304<      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

noble  free  living.  God's  laws  are  the  expres- 
sion of  His  nature  and  not  the  corrective 
measures  for  a  rebellious  race,  except  as  they 
lift  humanity  to  the  loftier  conceptions.  The 
Holy  Scriptures  when  interpreted  as  the  pro- 
gressive revelation  of  God  and  development 
of  man  is  a  record  of  facts  upon  which  has 
been  based  the  highest  religious  faith  of  the 
race.  The  perversion  of  this  sublime  and  holy 
record  to  be  an  infallible  dictum,  in  every  word, 
of  an  Almighty  sovereign,  set  upon  despotic 
rule,  is  to  take  from  man  the  beauty,  the  glory 
and  the  virtue  of  this  Holy  Book.  It  is  this 
that  has  been  done  for  the  Koran  of  the  Mo- 
hammedans. The  Koran  is  the  sword  of  a 
despotic  earthly  sovereign;  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures is  the  sword  of  the  Holy  Spirit  whose 
province  it  is  to  teach  all  things  and  bring 
to  remembrance  and  effectiveness  Christ's 
teaching  and  deeds.  The  word  of  God  in  the 
life  of  man  is  the  preeminent  pivotal  aim  about 
which  the  entire  Holy  Scriptures  revolve. 

The  Roman  Catholic  Church  has  denied  to 
its  adherents  access  to  the  Holy  Scriptures, 
ascribing  as  sufficient  reason  the  incapability 
of  the  people  to  understand  the  Book  and  the 
consequent  danger  of  error.  The  further  rea- 
son might  have  been  added,  the  denial  of  the 


CONSTRUCTING  ADEQUATE  FAITH      305 

right  of  private  opinion  in  religious  matters. 
Romanism  has  always  bitterly  fought,  and  still 
fiercely  contests,  the  circulation  of  the  Scrip- 
tures in  the  countries  where  it  is  predominant. 
However,  it  is  a  fact  that  the  Holy  Scriptures 
have  often  been  grossly  misunderstood  and 
even  among  devout  Christians  it  has  been 
variously  construed  and  been  made  to  support 
many  doubtful  theories  of  life,  doctrine,  and 
interpretations  of  divine  realities.  There  are 
many  splendid  incidents  of  individuals  com- 
ing into  sublime  conceptions  of  religion  and 
exalted  experiences  of  Christian  faith  through 
the  simple  reading  of  the  Scriptures,  but  the 
great  body  of  humanity  requires  instruction, 
leading,  guidance,  in  the  Holy  Book  in  order 
to  get  a  proper  appreciation  of  its  truth  and 
an  adequate  understanding  of  its  revelation. 
The  most  important  work  of  a  missionary, 
whatever  else  he  may  be  trying  to  do,  is  the 
honest,  faithful,  intelligent,  illuminating  teach- 
ing of  the  meaning,  contents  and  respective 
values  of  the  Scriptures.  The  missionary  who 
cannot  teach  the  Bible,  plainly,  freely,  hon- 
estly, is  lacking  in  the  most  essential  qualifica- 
tion for  service  in  the  foreign  field.  Unfortu- 
nately not  all  who  consider  themselves  qualified 
for  this  service  have  the  accurate  knowledge, 


306      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

the  proper  perspective,  and  competent  compre- 
hension of  its  purpose  to  make  the  Bible  the 
real  Book  of  revelation  to  the  unevangelized 
world.  Many  Bible  instructors  are  so  obsessed 
with  theories  which  they  feel  compelled  to  pro- 
mote that  they  make  the  Bible  run  altogether 
to  the  establishment  of  these  theories.  The  pre- 
firiillennialist,  for  instance,  is  usually  very  in- 
dustrious in  Bible  teaching,  but  always  with 
the  objective  of  showing  that  the  second  com- 
ing is  imminent,  as  the  evil  times  and  the 
prophecies  from  Genesis  to  Revelation  clearly 
prove.  The  Second-blessingist  is  always  em- 
phasizing the  double  spiritual  experience  of 
iiiGB.  from  the  patriarchs  to  the  latest  apostles. 
The  Sabbatarians  print  and  distribute  millions 
of  pages  of  literature  with  the  avowed  purpose, 
above  everything  else,  to  break  down  the  ob- 
servance of  the  Lord's  Day  and  to  stress  the 
literal  Sabbath  of  the  Jews.  The  Divine  Heal- 
ingist  is  attracted  by  all  the  cases  of  illness 
and  the  pre-medicine  method  of  healing  them. 
The  Epistle  of  James,  the  last  chapter  espe- 
cially, with  its  reference  to  the  anointing  of 
the  sick  with  oil  and  the  prayer  of  the  elders, 
is  the  chief  book  in  the  Bible,  even  if  Martin 
Liuther  did  speak  of  it  rather  contemptuously 
as  a  book  of  straw.     The  Bible,  God's  Holy 


CONSTRUCTING  ADEQUATE  FAITH      307 

Book,  will  never  get  to  the  people  through 
teachers  who  use  it  simply  to  support  a  theory 
or  establish  some  peculiar  doctrine.  The  Bible 
must  be  taught  by  those  who  seek  its  truth 
and  can  find  in  it  what  God  and  men  are,  and 
the  divine  purpose  and  plan  for  establishing 
the  eternal  unity  between  them,  and  who  can 
make  the  Book  the  living  voice  of  the  ever- 
speaking  God  in  his  fatherly  appeal  to  man, 
His  Son.  These  matchless  Scriptures  have 
been  discounted  by  the  petty  ends  to  which 
they  have  been  subjected.  They  can  come  to 
their  greatness  and  dignity  only  as  they  re- 
veal the  stately  steppings  of  Almighty  God 
and  the  redemptive  processes  of  high  heaven 
for  the  elevation  of  the  race  to  the  plane  of 
transcendent  righteousness  and  power.  The 
missionary  is  enjoined  to  be  a  "faithful  dis- 
penser of  the  Word  of  God"  and  to  this  end 
the  Bible  should  be  a  well-known  book,  in  con- 
tents, meaning  and  purpose. 

In  order  to  the  construction  of  an  adequate 
religious  faith  in  the  people  of  the  earth  upon 
a  stable  basis,  the  missionary  must  not  only 
know  and  teach  the  Bible  in  its  entirety  and 
in  the  light  of  modern  devout  scholarship  but 
he  or  she  must  know  thoroughly  the  elemental 
and  fundamental  elements  of  Christian  doc- 


308      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

trine.  The  missionary,  whatever  the  pecuhar 
field  of  service,  must  never  overlook  the  prime 
motive  in  his  or  her  going  or  being  sent. 
The  world  needs  science  and  its  myriad  appli- 
cations. A  new  and  better  philosophy  is  in- 
dispensable to  the  reconstruction  of  thought. 
Vocational  and  avocational  training  is  a  neces- 
sity for  the  new  industrial  era  which  should 
be  ushered  in.  The  new  trade  relations  and 
the  present  diplomatic  alliance  may  call  for 
service  in  their  advancement.  All  this  the 
missionary  may  do,  but  it  must  never  be  for- 
gotten that  religion  is  the  motive,  and  religion 
is  the  end  in  all  missionary  endeavor.  These 
other  objects  may  be  attained  without  the  mis- 
sionary leadership,  even  though  the  greater 
part  up  to  date  has  been  done  by  his  leader- 
ship, but  the  adequate  faith  will  come  only 
through  the  missionary.  So  what  is  the  re- 
ligion that  the  missionary,  every  missionary, 
has  gone  forth  to  teach?  What  interpretation 
of  religious  values  will  he  or  she  make  that 
is  vital,  necessary,  compelling  in  their  appeal? 
What  is  the  Christian  view  of  nature,  of  so- 
ciety, of  government,  of  the  mind,  of  the  soul, 
of  life,  of  death,  of  destiny?  In  what  respects 
is  Christianity  the  complete  religion  and  in 
every  way  adequate  to  the  needs  of  the  human 


CONSTRUCTING  ADEQUATE  FAITH     309 

spirit  and  the  wants  of  the  human  heart? 
These  questions  the  missionary  is  sent  to  an- 
swer. 


The  fundamental  element  in  the  Christian 
system  is  its  doctrine  of  God.  Christianity 
assumes  at  the  foundation  the  existence  of  an 
Infinite  Personal  God,  a  Heavenly  Father  of 
absolute  Power.  The  conception  of  God,  how- 
ever, does  not  take  on  vividness  and  acquire 
force  until  it  attains  the  sense  of  essentiality. 
The  doctrines  of  the  Gospel  do  not  become 
vital  until  God  becomes  the  ultimate  reality 
in  personal  and  cosmic  life.  The  conviction 
of  the  reality  of  God  as  revealed  by  and  in 
Jesus  Christ  is  the  creative  force  in  developing 
the  Christian  system  of  thought  and  experi- 
ence. Man  interprets  his  religious  experience 
in  terms  of  his  theology  and  he  interprets  his 
experience  with  Almighty  God  in  terms  of  his 
doctrine  of  God.  Take,  for  instance,  prayer. 
For  what  may  a  person  pray?  The  Roman- 
ist prays  to  or  through  saints  and  the  Virgin 
Mary.  Why?  Because  of  his  conception  of 
God.  To  him  God  is  too  terrible  to  meet  face 
to  face.  To  those  to  whom  God  is  a  father, 
direct  communion  in  prayer  with  this  father 


310      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

is  the  most  precious  privilege.  What  is  it 
that  God  and  man  must  do  together,  and  that 
God  cannot  enter  upon  until  man  announces 
in  prayer  that  he  is  ready  for  cooperation  in 
this  united  task?  The  entire  philosophy  of 
prayer  is  based  upon  one's  doctrine  of  God. 
It  is  most  important  to  hold  in  mind  what 
Professor  Samuel  Harris  once  said,  "If  God 
is  going  to  do  anything  He  will  do  it  like 
God  and  not  like  man."  The  doctrine  of  the 
atonement  has  taken  form  according  as  man 
has  considered  God  as  an  imperialistic  King, 
an  oriental  judge,  or  a  sympathetic  father. 
The  doctrine  of  the  incarnation  becomes  a 
stumbling  block  to  one  who  fails  to  find  be- 
tween God  and  man  an  eternal  kinship.  The 
doctrine  of  the  Trinity  is  confusing  in  the 
extreme  unless  the  doctrine  of  God  shall  allow 
the  expressions  of  deity  found  in  the  Son  and 
the  Holy  Spirit.  No  adequate  religious  faith 
is  possible,  until  there  is  a  clear,  comprehensive, 
exhaustive  doctrine  of  God  as  the  central  tenet 
of  all  religious  beliefs. 

Along  with  the  doctrine  of  God  must  be  put 
the  doctrine  of  man.  Any  religion  that  leaves 
man  and  God  at  a  distance  from  each  other 
is  wanting  in  an  essential  element.  "What  is 
man,  that  God  is  mindful  of  him ;  and  the  son 


CONSTRUCTING  ADEQUATE  FAITH     311 

of  man,  that  God  visits  him?"  This  question 
of  the  ancient  psalmist,  raised  in  wonderment, 
the  missionary  is  sent  to  the  rehgiously  illiter- 
ate people  of  the  earth  to  answer.  This  can 
be  done  only  if  he  or  she  know  the  meaning 
of  man,  the  significance  of  Sin,  the  purpose 
of  a  Saviour  and  the  plan  of  redemption  as  set 
forth  in  the  Holy  Scriptures. 

Teachers  of  Christianity  to  the  religiously 
untutored  or  wrongly  taught  throngs  must 
deal  directly  with  the  fundamental  elements 
of  man's  personality  which  include  self-con- 
sciousness, self-determination  and  self-knowl- 
edge. A  large  proportion  of  the  prejudicial 
if  not  disastrous  theological  blundering  of  sin- 
cere religious  thinkers  is  due  to  an  extraordi- 
nary degree  to  their  utter  lack  of  a  competent 
psycholog}^.  The  mind  of  man  is  the  instru- 
ment of  his  faith  as  it  is  the  agent  in  his  knowl- 
edge. Too  many  teachers  of  religion  seem  to 
take  no  cognizance  of  the  fact  that  as  man's 
mind  is,  so  his  faith  will  be.  An  exhaustive 
knowledge  of  man  such  as  genuine  psychology 
gives  will  put  to  rest,  or  vanish  to  indifference, 
many  speculative  theological  theories  so  long 
divisive  of  Christians,  and  reduce  to  a  paltry 
state  many  of  the  differences  now  existing  be- 
tween the  creeds  and  forms  of  the  various  de- 


312      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

nominations.  Many  of  the  strifes  over  predes- 
tination, possibility  of  apostacy,  second  bless- 
ing sanctification,  and  Holy  Ghost  baptisms, 
and  posture  in  prayer,  the  meaning  and  man- 
ner of  the  Lord's  Supper,  the  common  and 
individual  communion  cup,  the  use  of  the  or- 
gan and  other  musical  instruments  in  the 
church,  the  mode  of  baptism,  the  right  and 
power  of  only  certain  ministers  to  baptize  or 
administer  the  Communion,  are  due  almost 
entirely  to  the  psychology  in  the  case.  Spirit- 
ualism, theosophy,  the  most  of  Christian  Sci- 
ence, fanatical  faith  healings,  whether  by 
Saints'  bones,  or  Saints'  manipulations,  hang 
on  the  clouds  in  the  psychological  sky. 

The  teacher  of  Christianity  should  be  ac- 
quainted with  man.  The  religion  of  person- 
ahtjT-  must  find  personality  for  its  realm  and 
the  approaches  thereto  as  the  chief  channels 
of  its  operations.  But  psychology  alone  will 
fit  no  man  to  teach  the  Christian  religion. 
Man  is  not  only  a  thinker ;  he  is  a  sinner.  Why 
is  he  a  sinner?  What  is  the  consequence  of 
his  sin?  What  is  the  provision  that  has  been 
made  for  his  transformation?  The  doctrines 
of  sin  and  salvation  are  vital  in  any  mission- 
ary's equipment  for  giving  the  world  an  ade- 
quate religious  faith.    Back  of  these  and  in- 


CONSTRUCTING  ADEQUATE  FAITH      313 

terwoven  with  them  is  the  doctrine  of  the  per- 
son of  Jesus  Christ  and  the  philosophy  of  the 
redemption  which  has  been  accomphshed  in 
him  for  man.  The  missionary  is  required  to 
be  in  possession  of  the  great  trunk  lines  of 
Christian  doctrine  when  he  or  she  goes  forth 
to  construct  an  adequate  religious  faith  for 
three-fourths  of  the  world's  humanity.  Many 
young  men  and  young  women  are  offering 
themselves  as  teachers  of  religious  education. 
Education  in  religion  is  the  primary  need,  but 
before  there  can  be  the  teaching  of  religion, 
there  must  be  the  knowledge  of  religion.  Com- 
prehensive knowledge  of  the  Christian  religion, 
of  the  great  source  book  in  revelation  and  of 
man,  and  an  experience  of  personal  salvation 
in  Jesus  Christ  are  essential  to  any  proper 
equipment  for  that  missionary  service  which 
mankind  now  needs.  Such  equipment  is  no 
less  essential  to  any  just  presentation  and  com- 
petent promulgation  and  promotion  of  Chris- 
tianity in  the  home  lands.  In  this  day  there 
is  an  urgent  call  for  persons  to  teach  Chris- 
tianity who  really  know  what  Christianity  is. 
The  hope  of  the  world  ultimately  rests  upon 
a  real  religion.  What  is  real  religion?  That 
is  the  ever  recurring  question.  Many  factors 
are   involved,   the   chief   being  man  himself. 


314      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

Man  is  not  a  constant  quantity,  but  variable 
with  the  infinite  variety  of  the  species.  The 
Oriental  and  the  Occidental  are  types  of  mind 
as  well  as  classes  of  peoples.  What  is  real 
religion  to  the  one  may  not  be  real  religion 
to  the  other.  Until  there  is  standardization  of 
intellects  in  the  earth,  there  cannot  be  uniform- 
ity in  religious  conceptions.  Different  view- 
points give  different  views  of  the  object.  Man 
is  not  constituted  for  viewing  things  in  this 
world  in  completeness.  He  gets  but  broken 
views  and  consequently  forms  opinions  which 
deepen  into  convictions  that  are  limited,  par- 
tial and  defective.  This  is  the  penalty  of  be- 
ing finite.  It  is  a  heavy  strain  on  many  people 
to  be  finite.  Such  a  limitation  lays  the  obliga- 
tion of  recognizing  the  possibility  of  the  one- 
sidedness  of  one's  own  view  and  the  further 
possibility  of  a  different  and  even  correct  view 
from  another  side.  It  is  here  that  man  clas- 
sified himself  as  tolerant  or  intolerant.  Re- 
ligion is  the  one  subject  that  allows  many  view- 
points and  opens  the  possibilities  of  varying 
conceptions.  Charges  of  heresy  may  be,  and 
frequently  are,  more  the  evidences  of  inability 
to  comprehend  the  other's  point  of  view  than 
indications  of  error  in  the  other's  conceptions. 
Some  one  has  said,  "There  are  times  when  the 


CONSTRUCTING  ADEQUATE  FAITH      315 

heresy  which  seeks  and  prays  and  suffers  is 
much  nearer  the  source  of  life  than  an  intel- 
lectual orthodoxy  incapable  of  comprehending 
the  dogmas  that  it  keeps  embalmed."  It  takes 
all  points  of  view  to  get  any  just  and  satisfac- 
tory opinion  of  the  world,  and  the  same  may 
be  said  of  religion  and  especially  Christianity. 
The  crime  of  Christendom  has  been  its  bitter 
divisions  due  to  divergence  of  views  necessi- 
tated by  the  multiplied  points  of  vision.  What 
is  real  true  Christianity  cannot  be  answered 
by  one  man  or  group  of  men.  The  answer  in 
completeness  must  synthetize  the  views  of 
Christ-filled  humanity. 

Since  the  birth  of  the  Babe  of  Bethlehem  two 
very  distinct  types  of  mind  have  been  exhibited 
in  their  consideration  of  the  facts  and  doctrines 
of  Christianity.  The  Shepherds  saw  and  heard 
the  marvelous  chorus;  the  Wise  Men  of  the 
East  followed  the  conjunction  of  the  planets; 
and  all  found  the  Lord.  Each  group  was 
peculiarly  qualified  for  what  it  saw  and  heard. 
The  Judaistic  type  has  always  been  impressed 
by  signs  and  wonders  and  bound  by  forms, 
ceremonies  and  formulas  of  faith.  The  Hel- 
lenistic type  is  inclined  to  seek  truth  by  logic, 
reason  and  a  distinctly  intellectual  method. 
Miracles  with  the  first  group  are  always  pri- 


316      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

mary  evidences;  with  the  latter,  they  are  sec- 
ondary and  are  urged  not  so  much  as  won-  | 
ders  as  works  of  love  and  mercy  that  reveal 
the  divine  goodness  of  the  miracle  worker. 
The  first  group  is  always  engrossed  in  the  tem- 
poralities of  faith  and  the  physical  hopes  of 
prophecies,  and  is  usually  the  slave  of  literal- 
ism and  the  victim  of  funcf ions  of  the  priestly 
kind.  The  extremists  of  this  class  are  Zion- 
ists, Dowieites,  Russellites,  Mormons,  Holy 
Rollers,  and  Come-outers  of  all  degrees;  but 
many  devout  souls  are  bound  by  some  strands 
of  this  same  literalism  and  physicalism.  This 
group  usually  designates  itself  as  conservative, 
although  it  is  usually  very  radical  in  its  con- 
ceptions, its  operations,  and  in  its  demands  that 
all  men  think  its  thoughts  as  it  thinks  them. 
This  group  in  the  foreign  field  is  very  prone 
to  be  exceedingly  insistent  that  those  of  the 
other  type  are  heretics,  have  denied  the  funda- 
mentals of  the  faith,  and  are  bringing  ruin 
upon  the  Christian  propaganda.  Not  infre- 
quently the  leaders  in  this  radical  conservatism 
have  had  little  training  in  theolog>%  none  in 
psychology  and  philosophy,  and  have  had  lim- 
ited opportunities  in  the  school  for  developing 
the  mind  or  the  thought  processes  which  the 
great  issues  of  theology  require. 


CONSTRUCTING  ADEQUATE  FAITH      317 

The  other  group  has  led  in  the  modernism 
of  all  the  periods.  In  the  recent  decades  it 
has  promoted  the  textual  and  historical  criti- 
cisms, the  discoveries  in  archaeology,  the  con- 
struction of  the  recent  theologies,  the  inaugu- 
ration of  the  sociological  studies  and  move- 
ments, and  has  emphasized  the  salvation  of  the 
entire  world  through  the  establishment  on  earth 
of  the  Kingdom  of  God.  It  has  had  in  much, 
if  not  most  of  all  this,  the  opposition  and  the 
criticism  of  the  first  group.  It  has  led  in  many- 
instances  to  just  as  objectionable  and  danger- 
ous extremes  as  the  first.  The  Hellenism  of 
the  early  centuries  wsls  the  parent  of  Gnos- 
ticism and  all  the  rationalistic  teachings  of 
that  time  against  which  the  Apostles  and  the 
early  fathers  had  to  contend  vigorously.  From 
this  attitude  of  mind  have  come  the  natural- 
ism and  agnosticism  of  these  later  centuries 
that  have  been  so  dissipating  to  spiritual  life. 
The  rationalist  is  so  irrational  as  to  claim  that 
his  comprehension  of  all  truth  is  the  only  com- 
prehension there  is.  He  denies  not  only  the 
intimation  of  superhuman  intelligence  but  also 
the  validity  and  possibility  of  collected  com- 
prehension. He  denies  the  existence  of  any 
thought  outside  his  thought.  He  is  of  the 
earth  earthy,   and  carnal  withal.     The   first 


318      IMAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

group  is  fond  of  calling  the  second  group  ra- 
tionalistic and  thereby  damning  it  eternally  in 
devout  minds.  But  in  truth  the  rationalists  no 
more  represent  the  great  group  of  the  reason- 
ing, intellectual  and  scholarship  type  than  the 
Mormon  and  the  Dowieite  represent  the  fac- 
tual, traditional  and  literalistic  type.  Call- 
ing each  other  names  and  aligning  each  other 
with  heresy  of  an  outgrown  past  or  heresy  of 
a  too  pretentious  present  and  a  far-off  possible 
future  cannot  make  for  the  establishment  of 
an  adequate  Christian  religious  belief  in  the 
non-Christian  and  semi-Christian  world.  The 
genuine  Christianity  that  is  to  meet  the  chal- 
lenge of  the  world  must  have  a  clear-cut  reve- 
lation of  the  meaning  and  purpose  of  God, 
man,  and  the  world,  and  of  the  divine  energy 
by  which  all  things  live,  move  and  have  being. 
There  has  been  too  much  materialism  in  re- 
ligious thinking.  Too  much  emphasis  has  been 
put  upon  the  edibles,  the  mansions,  and  the 
ecstatic  experiences  of  the  other  world,  and 
too  little  on  character,  divine  relationships  and 
high  objectives  in  life.  Personalities,  and  not 
carnal  bodies  with  the  appetites  and  aspirations 
originating  therefrom,  are  the  true  concern  of 
genuine  Christianity.  Christ  arose  from  the 
dead  not  to  demonstrate  the  worth  of  the  body 


CONSTRUCTING  ADEQUATE  FAITH      319 

but  the  power  of  personality  to  re-clothe  itself 
for  the  world  in  which  it  is  to  live  and  operate. 
He  boldly  asserted,  "I  am  the  resurrection 
and  the  life."  Through  the  personality  of  the 
Divine  the  personality  of  the  human  is  en- 
dowed for  eternal  life.  It  is  personality  in 
which  God,  Christ,  and  man  have  their  com- 
mon claim.  Religion,  to  be  adequate,  must 
lift  man's  personality  to  the  level  of  divine 
relationships.  The  constructors  of  genuine  re- 
ligious faith  must  promote  a  Christianity  that 
meets  the  requirements  of  the  intellect,  sensi- 
bilities, and  will  of  developed  humanity.  Only 
a  religion  that  meets  the  demands  of  developed 
humanity  will  be  the  requisite  force  for  devel- 
oping humanity. 

Teachers  of  religion  must  recognize  the  two 
types  of  mind  in  the  world  and  set  themselves 
intelligently  to  fit  Christianity  in  its  forms  of 
statement  and  application  to  the  minds  of  men, 
and  at  the  same  time  to  fit  the  minds  of  men 
to  receive  and  assimilate  the  comprehensive 
truth  of  Christianity.  Rehgious  faith  cannot 
be  established  by  the  cravings  of  animalism,  the 
claims  of  literalism,  or  the  demands  of  intel- 
lectualism,  and  the  doctrinal  deductions  which 
they  incite,  but  only  by  the  synthetic  revela- 
tion of  that  personality,  creative  and  command- 


320      JVIAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

ing,  which  exists  and  binds  together  God, 
Christ  and  man.  The  mission  work  of  evan- 
gehcal  Christianity  would  be  greatly  hindered 
if  not  severely  endangered  by  the  overpower- 
ing predominance  of  one  type  of  mind  in  its 
instruction  and  ministry,  just  as  historic  Chris- 
tianity has  suffered  by  the  predominance  of 
the  Roman  mind.  Both  types  are  necessary  to 
a  proper  and  adequate  revelation  of  the  truth. 
Paul  and  James  supplement  each  other,  Jesus 
used  Thomas  as  well  as  Nathaniel.  The  Bible 
contains  the  hortatory  and  argumentative 
books  of  Isaiah  and  Romans  as  well  as  the 
apocalyptic  writings  of  Daniel  and  Revelation. 
The  Christian  church  of  this  day  may  learn 
wisdom  of  its  masters  and  the  way  of  truth 
from  its  Lord. 

VI 

The  world  was  never  more  in  need  of  a  com- 
petent Christianity.  Unprecedented  dangers 
are  imminent.  The  backwash  of  the  Great 
War  has  produced  a  tide  of  reaction  in  gov- 
ernment, in  economics,  in  thought  and  in  reli- 
gion. A  backward  movement  in  almost  every 
phase  of  life,  threatening  time-tried  ideals, 
seems  to  have  set  in.  One  of  the  leading 
American  editors  writes,  ''Some  are  daring  to 


CONSTRUCTING  ADEQUATE  FAITH      321 

exhort  us,  in  the  days  of  the  backward  tide,  to 
seek  out  the  *okl  time  rehgion.'  We  need  su^ 
premely,  however,  a  fresh,  new-time  religion, 
ahve,  vibrant,  aggressive  and  conquering.  The 
future  of  the  world  in  these  days  of  awful 
crises  depends  almost  solely  upon  the  church 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  for  this  is  the  only 
institution  left  with  great  resources  of  saving 
idealism."  This  editor,  however,  is  optimistic, 
as  he  says,  "We  are  on  the  verge  of  a  new 
and  glorious  age,  with  a  new  vision  of  God,  a 
new  epoch  for  faith,  a  new  conception  of  hu- 
man freedom.  The  coming  Kingdom  is  about 
to  become  a  more  tangible  and  visible  thing 
than  ever  before,  as  the  living  Christ  more  and 
more  finds  his  place  in  human  hearts  and  lives." 
In  the  midst  of  a  world  situation  more  terrible 
than  was  ever  known  before,  when  the  wisest 
men  seem  baffled  and  the  strongest  appear  de- 
feated, faith  in  God  is  the  sure  and  abiding 
hope,  the  foundation  for  a  new  world  order, 
and  the  supreme  factor  in  the  construction  of 
a  competent  civilization. 

Europe  needs  to-day  new  religious  ideals, 
new  conceptions  of  man  and  the  world,  and 
a  new  consciousness  of  God.  It  is  to-day  the 
world's  greatest  mission  field,  because  by  its 
life,  thought,  and  power,  it  is  determinative  of 


322      MAKING  THE  WORLD  CHRISTIAN 

the  conceptions,  ideals,  and  even  convictions  of 
four-fifths  of  the  world's  population.  Europe 
has  lost  its  hold  on  eternal  values.  Reparation 
commissions  may  assess  indemnities,  but 
Heaven  alone  can  repair  the  losses.  The  re- 
covery of  a  Holy  Faith  following  the  reclama- 
tion of  the  Holy  City  and  the  Holy  Land 
would  be  the  consummate  victory  of  all  the 
centuries.  Were  Europe  and  America  Chris- 
tian there  would  be  no  more  heathen  in  two 
generations.  Alexander  Hamilton  once  said 
of  this  country,  *'It  is  ours  to  be  either  the 
grave  in  which  the  hopes  of  the  world  shall  be 
entombed  or  the  pillar  which  shall  pilot  the 
world  forward."  This  may  be  truly  said  to- 
day of  the  evangelical  Christian  Church  and 
especially  in  America.  The  world  is  weary 
of  pretense  and  exhausted  by  ecclesiasticism. 
It  wants  a  new  expression  of  character,  a  new 
exhibition  of  love,  a  new  demonstration  of  the 
Christ  spirit,  a  new  projection  of  the  Christ 
program,  a  new  display  of  spiritual  power  in 
the  human  life,  and  a  new  sense  of  a  living  and 
present  Christ.  This  is  the  time  for  every 
Christian  to  face  forward,  and  fight  valiantly, 
to  drive  back  the  deadening  forces  of  ex- 
hausted beliefs  and  support  the  new  majestic 
movement  for  the  world's  Christianization. 


CONSTRUCTING  ADEQUATE  FAITH      323 

Making  the  world  Christian!  The  idea  is 
thrilling!  The  very  conception  is  dynamic. 
It  gives  sweep  to  the  imagination,  depth  to 
thought,  and  consuming  purpose  to  consecra- 
tion and  service.  But  this  is  not  possihle  hy 
any  instantaneous  process,  any  one  generation 
program.  There  must  be  the  time  exposure 
and  the  processes  of  life  and  construction. 
But  the  ages  belong  to  God.  He  has  under- 
taken the  salvation  of  the  world  and  there  is 
no  place  for  discouragement.  The  enormous 
task  is  within  His  powers.  Equipped  with  the 
Christ  plan  of  human  redemption,  reinforced 
by  genuine  Christian  character,  inspired  by 
unfeigned  Christ  love  and  energized  by  re- 
demptive spiritual  power,  man  valiantly  goes 
forth  to  deliver  to  the  world  a  competent 
Christianity  and  to  construct  for  all  humanity 
an  adequate  religious  faith.  With  Robert 
Morrison  we  may  boldly  declare  this  day,  "The 
outlook  is  as  bright  as  the  promises  of  God." 


THE   END 


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